Washington | Former prime minister Scott Morrison says the Albanese government has maintained the AUKUS submarine pact by scrimping on defence spending elsewhere, irritating the Pentagon and diminishing Australia’s ability to deter China from exerting control in the Indo-Pacific.

Testifying in front of a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), a rare appearance for a former foreign leader, Morrison warned that Beijing had built upon its rising economic power since the 1990s to gain sufficient military and technological advantage to threaten the global order.