Aukus fallout: Morrison attacks Macron’s credibility, suggests France anticipated ‘bad’ news on submarine deal

The Australian PM said he tried to phone the French president two days before the Aukus deal was announced, and leaked his text message in reply

Morrison said Macron’s accusation of lying about the cancelled submarine deal was a slur against Australia

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Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. He said to reporters he had told France that conventional submarines would not meet Australia’s evolving strategic needs. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:30am, 2 Nov 2021Updated: 8:57pm, 2 Nov 2021

Australian Prime Scott Morrison has attacked the credibility of French President Emmanuel Macron as a newspaper quoted a text message that suggested France anticipated “bad news” about a now-scuttled submarine deal.

The Australian newspaper cast doubt on US President Joe Biden’s explanation to Macron last week that he thought the French had been informed long before the September announcement that their A$90 billion (US$66 billion) submarine deal with Australia would be scrapped.

Macron this week accused Morrison of lying to him at a Paris dinner in June about the fate of a five-year-old contract with majority French state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Australia cancelled that deal when it formed an alliance with US and Britain to acquire a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines built with US technology.

Morrison told Australian reporters who had accompanied him to Glasgow, Scotland, for a UN climate conference that he made clear to Macron at their dinner in June that conventional submarines would not meet Australia’s evolving strategic needs.

Two days before Morrison, Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the nuclear submarine deal, Morrison attempted to phone Macron with the news, but the French leader texted back saying he was not available to take a call, The Australian newspaper reported.

Macron asked: “Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarines ambitions?” the newspaper reported on Tuesday.

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