Australia to pay France $830m over cancelled submarine deal
Australia will fork out $830 million in compensation to the French over the controversial cancelled submarine deal, Anthony Albanese has announced.
NSW
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The Australian government will pay $830 million to the Naval Group of France in compensation for the cancelled submarine deal, Anthony Albanese has announced on Saturday.
The previous Morrison government backflipped on a deal with France for French Attack class submarines in favour of a new AUKUS deal with the US and UK.
“The way that decision was handled has caused enormous tension in the relationship between Australia and France,” Mr Albanese said at a press conference.
The total cost of scrapping the program is $3.4 billion, Mr Albanese said.
“We can now move forward with our relationship with France,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to taking up President Macron’s invitation to me to visit Paris.”
In a viral video, French president Emanuel Macron accused Scott Morrison of being a liar.
Mr Albanese said the settlement draws a line under the contract and no further legal action is expected in retaliation of the ripped up contracts.
“We can now reset the relationship without this clouding the relationship.”
The cancelled submarine deal, which would have seen Australia buy French vessels, caused the French to erupt in fury and saw France pull their ambassador to the US.
The new deal with the UK and US will see nuclear powered submarines built and provided to Australia, to replace the current ageing Collins class.
On Saturday Mr Albanese said the settlement is a direct result of “the most wasteful government in the history of federation”.
“This is a saving on the $5.5 billion that senate estimates was told would be the result of that program, but it still represents and extraordinary waste from a government that was always big on announcement but not big on delivery,” he said.
“Tens of billions of dollars wasted across a range of programs that have contributed to the trillions of dollars in debt that the incoming Labor government has inherited.”
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