The City of Launceston council may invite the United States president-elect Joe Biden to visit the city and the Cataract Gorge next year in hopes of being the first to get a sitting president to Tasmania.
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The invitation was sparked by a question without notice, at the council's November 12 meeting, by councillor Paul Spencer.
Cr Spencer said he did not know whether the council could do it or not, but asked if it were possible to invite the president of the US to visit the city and the Gorge.
"I don't think it's ever been done before," he said.
"There's talk of him coming to Australia next year, I don't know if we can send out an invitation to bring him to Launceston, [because] it could be worth millions of dollars to Tasmania."
According to the US Embassy and Consulates in Australia website, a sitting US president has never visit Tasmania on official duties.
Meaning if successful, it would be the first time a US president had visited the Apple Isle.
In other news:
Deputy mayor Danny Gibson asked to confirm if Cr Spencer meant extending the invitation to president-elect or outgoing President Donald Trump.
Mayor Albert van Zetten said the question would be taken on notice, but also wanted clarification on who Cr Spencer meant.
"I was about to ring him up [Trump] and say you only have a few months," he said.
The council's chief executive officer Michael Stretton replied to the question in the November 26 meeting agenda.
He said it was possible.
"The council can send a written invitation to the United States President [elect] and extend an invitation to visit the Cataract Gorge during the proposed presidential visit to Australia in 2021," he said.
Cr Spencer's question related to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's signal earlier this month that he would invite Biden to visit Australia next year.
The visit would be for the 70th anniversary of the Anzus treaty, which was signed between Australia, New Zealand and the United States in 1951 to protect the security of the Pacific.
The proposed invitation follows on from a proposal to rename the Westbury cricket ground after Biden.
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