Australia urges warm, first-name-only summit

BRISBANE: Just call me Tony: Australia’s prime minister tried to get his bickering G20 colleagues to loosen up at summit talks in the laid-back city of Brisbane on Saturday before hosting a lunch of prawns and pavlova in the baking heat.

The conservative Australian leader, who held a private leaders-only retreat ahead of formal talks that will focus on economic growth, energy security and tax reform, called for the high-powered meeting to be open and friendly.

“The people around this room are... the most powerful and influential people in this world,” Abbott told the likes of United States President Barack Obama, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

“We may not always be able to agree but I hope we can at least be open with each other,” he said, urging his fellow leaders to speak from the heart, not the “script”.

“And if we could use first names, that would be good as well. Because whatever disagreements we might have, it helps if there can at least be personal warmth amongst us.”

Abbott then hosted an outdoor lunch with tents as shade as temperatures soared above 30 degrees Celsius.

On the menu was the Australian barbecue favourite of king prawns as well as rock oysters, smoked spiced lamb and Tasmanian ocean trout. The meal was completed by pavlova, the classic meringue and cream dessert claimed by both Australia and New Zealand.

The leaders’ retreat was seen as an “ice-breaker” ahead of the formal G20 talks later Saturday and Sunday

Brisbane’s G20 has been distinctly antipodean, with the leaders’ spouses taken to feed koalas and kangaroos on Saturday morning while enjoying a demonstration of sheep shearing, a reference to Australia’s wool industry.