Duterte was never coming to Sydney: PM

Malcolm Turnbull insists the Philippines president was never coming to Australia for a special ASEAN summit.

The prime minister will host southeast Asian leaders in Sydney on March 17, but Rodrigo Duterte will not be among them.

"We would very much welcome his presence but he'd always indicated he was not going to attend. He's not an enthusiastic attender of international conferences," Mr Turnbull told a business summit on Wednesday.