Morrison Fires Back at Macron, Defends Australia From ‘Slurs’
Morrison Fires Back at Macron, Defends Australia From ‘Slurs’
(Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison denied French leader Emmanuel Macron’s accusation that he lied about a submarine deal that was scrapped in September, while saying he would defend his nation from “slurs.”
“The statements that were made questioning Australia’s integrity and the slurs that have been placed on Australia -- not me, I’ve got broad shoulders, I can deal with that -- but those slurs, I’m not going to cop sledging at Australia,” Morrison told reporters on Monday in Glasgow, where he was attending the COP26 climate summit.
Macron went on the attack at the weekend, telling Australian reporters on the fringes of the Group of 20 meeting in Rome that Morrison had lied to him about the submarine pact with the U.S. and the U.K. announced last month. “I don’t think” he lied, Macron said, “I know” he did. The French leader added that he had a lot of respect for Australia.
The tit-for-tat comments show the lingering fallout from the defense accord struck between the three English-speaking nations, which scuppered a major French defense contract signed with Australia to provide diesel-powered submarines. The U.S. is now selling nuclear-powered submarines to Australia -- something French diplomats said Paris could’ve done.
Morrison said the deal with France was scrapped in part because of delays in the project and surging costs.
“These were matters that we raised quite regularly and indeed I raised with President Macron at each opportunity when we either spoke over the phone or we had our bilateral meetings going over a number of years,” he said.
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