PM defends not briefing Labor on AUKUS until day before it was announced

Scott Morrison has sensationally suggested Labor would have leaked the AUKUS deal with China had he briefed them earlier.

Scott Morrison has defended his decision to not brief Labor about the historic AUKUS pact until less than 24 hours before it was announced, suggesting the Opposition would have leaked it to China in a stunning political attack.

The Prime Minister has come under fire over reports US President Joe Biden insisted that the landmark AUKUS agreement had bipartisan support before it was formed.

But Mr Morrison waited until the afternoon before it was unveiled in a 7am address last September to brief senior Labor figures.

Scott Morrison accused Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles of having “frequent flyer points” for visiting the Chinese embassy. Picture: Jason Edwards

He branded allegations that he misled the US “completely false”.

“I mean, you’ve got the deputy leader of the Labor Party (Richard Marles), who would have been sitting in such a briefing, who had frequent flyer points for visiting the Chinese embassy in Australia,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Queensland on Monday morning.

“I mean, seriously, this was one of the most secure and highly confidential agreements the Australian government had entered into since ANZUS.”

Mr Morrison said the AUKUS deal, which involves building at least eight nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide, did eventually receive bipartisan support.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles was targeted for visiting the Chinese embassy a number of times in the past five years. Picture: Liam Kidston

“You never trust the person who just gets on board later, you trust the person who had the foresight to put it together in the first place,” he said.

“This was not something that I was going to be loose with, and I wasn’t loose with it.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese slammed the Prime Minister for “always looking for a conflict and a division”.

“Even though Labor could not have been more clear, more decisive or more certain about our support for AUKUS, this Prime Minister has continued to play politics and to suggest that that wasn’t the case at each and every opportunity,” Mr Albanese said.

Last Friday, The Australian revealed Mr Marles attended 10 meetings with Chinese officials in the past five years amid rising tensions with the country.

Last weekend Mr Albanese accused Mr Morrison of breaking faith with the Biden administration.

“It is extraordinary that the Prime Minister broke that faith and trust with our most important ally by not briefing Australian Labor on these issues,” Mr Albanese said.

“I was contacted by Scott Morrison only on the day before (the AUKUS announcement) and asked to fly to Canberra, which I did, with Richard Marles and Penny Wong, and Brendan O’Connor was also there, some remotely, to be briefed on the AUKUS proposals.”

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