President Donald Trump reportedly eyed three retiring senators to become the next U.S. ambassador to Australia including Orrin Hatch and Bob Corker – but the Utah and Tennessee Republicans say they don't want to head for land Down Under.
On Monday, the Australian Financial Review said Hatch was under consideration for the post after Trump sent his original nominee, Navy Admiral Harry Harris, to be U.S. ambassador to South Korea instead. The publication said Corker and Jeff Flake of Arizona were also being considered.
But Hatch won't be saying "g'day mate."
"Sen. Hatch has not had any conversations about an ambassadorship," Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock told The Salt Lake Tribune. "But [he] looks forward to a well-deserved retirement filled with early bird specials at all-you-can-eat buffets and long walks through Costco."
Corker doesn't want the job, either, The Tennessean reports.
"I had a number of conversations with both President Trump and [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo," Corker told the newspaper. "At the end of the day though …it just felt like it wasn't the right step."
He added: "I shared with them there may very well be some other task down the road that they may need me to tackle on behalf of our country."
It's not known whether Flake wants the ambassadorship.
Earlier this year, Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, announced that he would retire at the end of his seventh term in the Senate, in January 2019. And last year, both Corker and Flake announced they would not seek reelection this November.
The position of U.S. Ambassador to Australia was created in 1940.
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