I've just read the following news:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/01/16/no-invite-pm-trumps-inauguration

What do posters think?

Clearly neither Turnbull nor Shorten as PM and and Leader of the Opposition would receive invitations given what those two characters said about Trump when the thought of him as President was unvelievable. What they did say is not likely to have gone unnoticed, nor will it be forgotten. Australia is supposed to be an ally of the U.S no matter the colour of either of our governments. That would seem to have gone out the door since the arrival of Trump. After his inauguration, all Australian politicians except Pauline Hanson should start to worry, and keep a good supply of fresh underpants handy. We need America more than it needs us.

Who in their right mind would want an idiot like Shorten or a dud like Turnbull at their event, unless of cause you wanted to bore the hell out of your guests.

I didn't think it was possible, but these two are just as embassising as Gillard was when representing our nation.

Hey Foxy,
Did Turnbull openly oppose or say disparaging remarks during Trumps candidacy?
I know Bill (the twerp) Shorten did, and Turnbull may have shown more restraint but I'm not sure he kept his mouth shut entirely.

If he did then we got what we deserved.
Who do we think we are disparaging a potential future US President?
If I were Trump I wouldn't be seen crawling up to those who had opposed me either, it's the wrong message.
I'd snub them too.

Pauline got an invite, and honestly I think she's made an error of judgement not attending. It would give an impression that she is more relevant and has a better footing with the new US administration.
Just by going it would makes our major parties look more of a joke and less relevant.

Obviously Trump has a good private intelligence service, & a long memory.

We would do well to only consider electing intelligent people, who know how to be diplomatic to leadership positions for the foreseeable future. That obviously excludes the 3 dummies leading our 3 until now major parties.

Fortunately that does appear to be changing for the better at the moment. The big question is, will we survive long enough to get it done?

AC,

Yes. I think Pauline should have gone. She has committed an irriversable faux pas in my view. I would expect Trump to treat Turnbull with the contempt the grub deserves. I just hope we are not all judged on the standard of our low-class politicians.

Since when has it become a tradition for Australian Prime Ministers, let alone heads of minor Australian political parties, to be invited to or attend US Presidential inaugurations?

I tried unsuccessfully to find an answer to this on the all-knowing google. The only clue I got was from a wiki site on Obama's first inauguration: "Invitations and tickets were sent to ambassadors and chiefs of diplomatic missions to the United States and their spouses, but not to other representatives of foreign countries." This makes sense, within foreign countries (eg the USA) our ambassadors are the appropriate representatives at such events.

Do PMs and heads of Australian political parties attend the swearing in of any other heads of state, or prime ministers, In England, Canada, NZ, or China, France, Germany, or Russia??

I accept attendance at royal coronations, since the monarch of Britain is still formally our head of state. Mind you, the US presidency is becoming a bit like royalty, with inheritance rules: Bush 1, Bush 2; Clinton 1, Clinton 2 (failed), Trump 1, and who knows, he's got a lot of kids!

If you know, please post weblinks!

PS It was quite proper and intelligent of Pauline Hanson to decline, especially when the PM was not invited. If she had gone, it would have been held against her forever, and that would have damaged any future cooperation between her party and the Trump administration.
I'm not a supporter of Pauline, but I do think this was an astute decision on her part.

OP, "What do posters think?"

The inference could be taken that there is something unusual or odd and certain dignitaries from around the world have been slighted.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is all the usual, traditional diplomatic etiquette. That is confirmed later in the featured article and should have been quoted perhaps.

Cossomby's observations (above two posts) are spot on.

Australian Prime Ministers as far as I know have not
in the past attended US Presidential inaugurations.
Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions in Washington are
the ones that are usually invited.

Here is a quote from the United State Department:

"The US State Department has advised that as in the
past, foreign delegations will not be invited to
Washington for the President-elect Trump's 2017
inauguration and the heads of state and governments will
be represented by Chiefs of diplomatic missions in
Washington," a DFAT spokesman said.

What prompted my starting this discussion was the
surprising fact that despite this statement Pauline Hanson
being neither a head of state or government or a
chief of a diplomatic mission received an invitation to
the inauguration. I thought this would make for an
interesting discussion. Especially as to why this invitation
was issued to her? Could it be because she drank champagne
in front of Parliament House when Mr Trump got elected
and pursued to express her admiration for the man, including
sending one of her senators to meet Mr Trump?

Whereas here are what some Australian politicians had said
about Mr Trump in the past:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-09/what-australian-politicians-have-to-say-about-the-us-election/8007748

Given the State Department organises the inauguration and follows diplomatic protocol, I wondered whether Pauline had really been invited or whether this was just another example of fake news.

It turns out Pauline wasn't personally invited, as herself, or as leader of One Nation. The invite was a private one by a US politician to Malcolm Roberts. It was passed onto Pauline when Roberts declined. So she was doubly wise to also decline, who wants to go and get possibly bad publicity when you weren't even the one they wanted in the first place!

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/how-one-nation-scored-an-invite-to-donald-trumps-inauguration/news-story/62d021a34a56a2ffcb88c511e3cb0615
"But still, when One Nation leader Pauline Hanson revealed yesterday she had been invited to come along to the historic event on Saturday, we all wanted to know, how did she get on the list?

Ms Hanson won’t be attending the party due to “commitments in Australia”, but she’s sending a proxy.

One Nation NSW Senator Brian Burston will be attending in her place, and in his first public comments following his acceptance of the unusual invitation, the mystery surrounding how it ended up in the minor party’s hands was revealed.

In an interview with ABC radio, Mr Burston revealed the invitation was delivered via the office of Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger.

According to Mr Burston, Mr Kinzinger reached out to One Nation staffer Darren Nelson, an economist who once worked for Mr Trump and now advises One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts.

The invitation, according to Mr Roberts, was initially intended for the Queensland Senator but he said couldn’t due to health issues, specifically a hernia. The invitation was then forwarded to Ms Hanson."

cont'd ...

I've finally found the link that explains how One Nation
scored an invite to Donald Trump's inauguration.
It's worth a read:

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/how-one-nation-scored-an-invite-to-donald-trumps-inauguration/news-story/62d021a34a56a2ffcb88c511e3cb0615

Dear Cossomby,

It seems that we've both found the same answer
and our posts passed each other.

The link explains a great deal.

Foxy, Our role seems to be to throw others a factual lifebuoy when they have jumped off the pier into deep misinformation.

It may be useful that One Nation has picked up one of Trump's economic advisors. He may be able to explain what Trump plans to do in situations like this, without ruining the US/the world.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/alan-kohler/donald-trump-and-the-triffin-dilemma/news-story/378d2921187a123cf0dc362f61323e8e

Dear Cossomby,

Thanks for the link.

Informative article, including the reader's comments.

Interesting times we live in.

Hey ttbn,
I kind of thought it was an irrevesible decision too, but thinking about it now I'm not so sure.
Why can't she just change her mind? I'm sure they'd still make room for her.
She could say her first thoughts were her position as a Senator and representative of the Australian people which will always be her first priority, (free publicity) but after much discussion over the issue and support from her own supporters she has decided to attend.

The other parties can't say or do anything.
If they do make a fuss, they will just be reminding everyone the new US President didn't invite them.
Which means more support and publicity for Hanson, and a worse position for the others.

- She can't lose, they can't say anything.

She could meet with Farage, Le Pen, and all the other Nationalist party leaders.
Photo ops (maybe even with Trump) and liaising with these other leaders to help strategise.

Not going is too great a price to pay.
It's like not going to a good friends wedding, you won't be considered a 'close friend' or in the 'inner circle' anymore...

Note: When I made my previous comment, I hadn't read all the responses.
I accidentally only saw the page 1 comments when I usually click 'all', so I hadn't read Cossomby's comments on Page 2 and all others that came after.
I see now after reading the comments I missed earlier that I'd made assumptions in regards to this story without knowing all the facts. (that's karma)

The story I'd read first thing this morning provided little information, and was more an opinion piece.
http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2017/01/16/who-earth-turned-down-trumps-inauguration-invite-he-got-pauline-hanson

Thanks for providing the correct information regards the Hanson invite, I'm humbled that I openly got something totally wrong for a change.
Let it teach me a lesson for assuming...

As long as Kim Jong-un or is that Kim Jong il, no matter, they'er all in the family, got an invite all will be well. Yes, it was a political faux pas by the lovely Pauline not to attend. Plus the fact she could have done her own Susie Ley act, and stopped off in Alabama and renewed her KKK membership at the same time, saving the taxpayer a wad of dosh on a second junket.

Sour grapes, Paul?

Didn't Lee Rhiannon get an invite, along with her Commo mate that you mentioned?

Nah, Is Mise,

Are the 'Two Bobs' Tweedle Dumb, and his side kick Tweedle Even Dummer, from the Shooters and Hooters Party invited? They could provide The Donald with an armed escort.

Four pages of comment and what is most apparent is that the SBS deserves a wooden spoon for stirring.

The SBS article linked to in the OP (post 1) was noteworthy for its NEEDLESS speculative gossip and sensationalism.

Cossomby has done all a service by teasing out the few simple, unexciting facts. However that would not have been necessary if the original report had given the few simple facts without spin.

What to do where the public broadcaster paid for by taxpayers indulges in tabloid journalism and sensationalism?

Secondly, does this report provide more evidence of the alleged public broadcaster's editorial slant against political parties and politicians it does not like?

The link given in the opening post quite clearly
states the facts. It's simply a matter of
reading what is being stated and comprehending
the facts.

cont'd ...

Most of the main stream media covered the news
with the same headlines as SBS so to single
out SBS is not logical. However a link has
been provided by both Cossomby and myself explaining
how One Nation scored an invite to Mr Trump's
inauguration. It explains the situation very well.

Actually it gets worse. According to The Australian online this afternoon, quoting the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Malcolm Roberts lobbied the Australian Embassy in Washington repeatedly to get him an invite and they found a US politician who could oblige. I'm away from home and doing this on mobile phone, so can't give hot link, but it will probably be in other papers tomorrow.
Seems a bit of a rort, pushing for an invite behind the scenes and then claiming One Nation was specially invited. And are we the taxpayers funding the trip of the One Nation guy who is actually going ?

Dear Cossomby,

Gee whiz. Thanks for that information.
I'll try to find the link and post it
later on. However, as far as I know the man
is paying his own way to Washington.

cont'd ...

Here's a link that explains the invite:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/one-nation-pestered-australian-embassy-officials-for-trump-inauguration-tickets-20170118-gtu3bb.html

It puts a different slant on things.

From the link, Senator Burston has promised he will pay for his own flights and accommodation".

One way ticket? Can only hope.

Dear Paul,

Still, you've got to give credit to the man's
perseverance in pursuing the matter until he
managed to score an invite.

Pauline and Putin should have gone according to the Newspapers.
" Mr Banks accompanied Nigel Farage as he met Trump on what the property mogul plans to do regarding Putin. He told Express.co.uk: ."In foreign policy he will work with Putin to destroy radical Muslim terror ."

Daily Mail Australia: ".. the Washington Post, reported: ‘Since the 1980s, Trump and his family members have made numerous trips to Moscow in search of business opportunities, and they have relied on Russian investors to buy their properties around the world.’ Trump’s son, Donald Jnr, boasted to a property industry conference in 2008: ‘Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.’ In the same speech, he said that he had visited Russia six times in the previous 18 months. "

Melania Trump is of Slavic origin .

Queensland Courier Mail : "A ONE Nation candidate has been praising Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. And the party yesterday backed Bundamba candidate Shan Ju Lin’s right to do it,."

Read Trump's speech today. Brilliant, for America,but why shouldn't it be? I wish we had a leader who would put Australia first like Trump does with the U.S.

Here's something to make you feel sad: ex-VP, Joe Biden and his family went home from the inauguration speech by train.

After a hard day listening to Bill Shorten it's nice that Malcolm takes a train back to his place and relaxes with fellow travellers from Penrith , Emu Plains or Bondi. He would go on New York subway if Treasury had any funds left to pay a plane trip to US.

Dear ttbn,

Here's two links that may be of interest to you:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/fact-check-president-trump-inaugural-address/

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-trump-inaugural-address-20170120-story.html

cont'd ...

I'll try again:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/fact-check-president-trump-inaugural-address/9683637

I give up.

Malcolm at least would wear an overcoat. Next Inauguration we may see Tony on his bike in red jocks close behind the limo after inviting himself. The cops wouldn't touch him.

Hopefully the link will work this time:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/fact-check-president-trump-inaugural-address/9683670/

One last go:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/fact-check-president-trump-inaugural-address/96836370/

I finally replaced my old glasses with my new ones and hooray
the link works. My apologies for all this
mucking around.

NNN, if the airlines were to introduce the NSW Liberals Billion dollar 'Opal' system as we have on public transport in NSW, there would be no problem with polys overcharging for air fares, half the trips would be free due to system failure!

The possible new Primer Gladdy Boobledukely blames the huge losses, a million dollars a day, on teething problems, the fact is The Liberals have blown a billion dollars on a lemon. And they claim to be the financial gurus!

Trump could pay for train trips, jet bookings and Tony's bike pump. Silly clown, he could have packed a crowd if only he invited a load of overseas research pollies.