Scott Morrison denies Labor was snubbed from AUKUS briefing

Scott Morrison says his government did everything US President Joe Biden asked of it ahead of a historic military alliance.

Scott Morrison has rubbished claims the Labor Party was briefed about the AUKUS agreement only 12 hours before the deal was announced.

In doing so, Mr Morrison took a fresh shot at deputy Labor leader Richard Marles, sensationally accusing him of having “frequent flyer points” for visiting the Chinese Embassy.

The potshot came after Nine Newspapers revealed over the weekend that the Labor Party was made privy to the major partnership with the United States and United Kingdom at the 11th hour despite an earlier request from US President Joe Biden that Mr Morrison secure bipartisan support.

Mr Morrison on Monday said the claim Labor was not briefed in time was “absolutely false”, and the government had met the requirements “100 per cent”.

Scott Morrison says he and his government had met Joe Biden’s AUKUS requirements ‘100 per cent’. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

“I find it passing strange that you think that we wouldn’t have maintained the absolute discretion, as we did with so many of our own cabinet,” Mr Morrison said.

“I mean, we’ve only seen it highlighted over the course of the last couple of weeks – you’ve got the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, who would have been sitting in such a briefing, who had, you know, frequent flyer points for visiting the Chinese Embassy in Australia.

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

“We absolutely complied with all of the issues that needed to be addressed in forming that partnership, and the policy did receive bipartisan support.”

Mr Morrison also hit back at claims it was the second instance of Australia letting down the US when it came to the historic partnership.

The historic AUKUS agreement was announced in September. Picture: NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese hit back at the Prime Minister’s claims about the chance of briefings being leaked during a press conference in Perth on Monday.

“I have national security briefings all the time,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

“What this Prime Minister always does is put the political interests first before the national interest.

“It’s always about the politics.”

Over the weekend, Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said national security should be above party politics.

“Mr Morrison will bulldoze anything to save his political skin and is even prepared to refuse the requests of the US administration,“ she said.

“Our alliance with the United States is the bedrock of Australian security, that’s why it’s had bipartisan support for decades.

“It seems that Mr Morrison thinks this is just another political card to play.“