‘I don’t think, I know’: French President Macron says Scott Morrison lied to him

Rome: Scott Morrison has been branded a liar by French President Emmanuel Macron in an incendiary claim that has deepened a rift between Australia and France and created a political storm over the Prime Minister’s integrity.

Macron levelled the charge against Mr Morrison as the pair joined other world leaders for climate talks in Glasgow, drawing the Prime Minister into a spiral of claim and counter-claim over how and why Australia cancelled a $90 billion submarine contract with France.

Labor said Morrison had been “found out” on the international stage with a statement from a key ally that showed he could not be trusted.

The French President repudiated the federal government’s repeated argument that he was given enough information to know France would lose the contract in favour of the new AUKUS defence pact signed with United States and United Kingdom on September 15.

Asked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age whether he thought Morrison had lied over the affair, Macron said: “I don’t think, I know.”

He also declined to say whether he could trust the Australian Prime Minister again and he cast doubt over the viability of Morrison’s bid to acquire nuclear-powered submarines at the end of an 18-month review.

“You have 18 months before a report. Good luck,” he quipped.

“I have a lot of respect for your country, a lot of respect and friendship for your people. I just say when we have respect, you have to be true and you have to behave in line and consistent with this value.”

Morrison swiftly denied he had lied and said he had explained to Macron over dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris in June that the submarines to be supplied by French company Naval Group were not going to meet Australian needs.

“I was very clear that the conventional submarines were not going to be able to meet our strategic interests and we were going to have to make a decision in our national interest,” Morrison said.

Some Australian officials familiar with the June dinner conversation said Macron at one point told Morrison “I don’t like losing” — a comment the Australians interpreted as a sign the French knew then that they were at serious risk of losing the submarine deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly told Morrison in June that “I don’t like losing”. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Asked why he did not tell Macron that Australia was discussing a nuclear submarine option with the US and UK, Morrison told reporters in Rome: “This was not something you go around having broad conversations about.”

While Australian prime ministers have come into conflict with world leaders in the past - such as when Tony Abbott threatened to “shirtfront” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Paul Keating labelled Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad “recalcitrant”, the new clash pits allies against each other in a direct allegation of dishonesty.

“Let me be very clear: the decision I’ve taken as Prime Minister, the decision my government has taken was in Australia’s national interests,” Mr Morrison said.

“These decisions are difficult. Of course it has caused disappointment and it has caused an impact on the relationship with France.”

But the furore creates a political storm over personal trust, with Labor leader Anthony Albanese saying the “real problems” raised questions over the Prime Minister’s handling of the matter.

“You’ve seen President Macron make some very serious statements about his view of what Scott Morrison said to him prior to Scott Morrison cancelling the contract between Australia and France by text message,” Albanese said.

“Australians need a leader who can be trusted.”

Nationals leader and Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said there was speculation about the cancellation of the contact “long before” the decision.

“We didn’t steal an island. We didn’t deface the Eiffel Tower. It was a contract,” he said.

“And contracts have terms and conditions and one of those terms and conditions and propositions is that you might get out of the contract. We got out of that contract.

“I hope that President Macron understands that, ultimately, Australia and France have got so much more in common and so much into the future than a contract which is now in the past.”

While Macron stressed that he respected the history between Australia and France and the need for Canberra to make “sovereign choices”, the French President said “you have to respect allies and partners and this was not ok”.

US President Joe Biden used a meeting with Mr Macron over the weekend to label the AUKUS announcement “clumsy” and apologise for Paris not being told about the deal much sooner.

“It was not done with a lot of grace. I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not going through. Honest to God, I did not know you had not.”

The French ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, was due to meet Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Monday for the first time since he was recalled from Canberra amid the submarine fallout. Thebault will also address the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists he told Macron the French submarines were not going to suit Australia.Credit: AP

Labor Queensland Senator Murray Watt said the accusation against Morrison raised the question of whether any country could trust the Prime Minister.

“Some people might think it doesn’t really matter what leaders say to each other but when you’ve got one of our main allies saying that the Prime Minister can’t be trusted, how’s any country supposed to believe anything that Scott Morrison says?” Senator Watt said.

“He’s always spinning, coming up with spin and marketing to get himself through a situation. And now he’s being found out on the international stage. That’s bad for all Australians, not just for Scott Morrison.”

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