Australia PM brushes off leaked Donald Trump phone transcript

Australia's prime minister Friday sought to downplay an unflattering account of a controversial refugee swap deal which emerged in a leaked transcript of a bad-tempered phone call with US President Donald Trump The Washington Post published the full details Thursday of private calls between Trump and his Australian and Mexican counterparts, sparking fury about the leak from the US administration The acrimonious exchange between Trump and Malcolm Turnbull saw the American billionaire balk at a "dumb deal" made by the Obama government to accept refugees sent by Australia to remote Pacific island detention camps.

But the transcript also exposed key inconsistencies between the Australian government's comments to the public on the deal, and undermined official assertions it was not set up as a swap to take refugees from the US "We will take anyone that you want us to take," Turnbull told Trump during the call, adding: "The only people that we do not take are people who come by boat "We would rather take a not very attractive guy that helps you out than to take a Nobel Peace Prize winner that comes by boat. Turnbull on Saturday described the call as "frank and courteous" and defended what he told Trump.