Australia and France to step up co-operation in the Pacific

French president Emmanuel Macron's visit has taken the bilateral relationship to "new heights", Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared on Wednesday, as he promised deeper and broader ties between the two countries.

He said France and Australia were "forces for good" in the world and highlighted greater co-operation in defence, trade, and regional security in the Pacific.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at Wednesday's press conference at Kirribilli House.Credit: Janie Barrett

Mr Macron responded by saying Australia and France had "one shared goal, that is to place our two countries at the heart of a new Indo-Pacific axis''.

Standing alongside visiting Mr Macron on the lawns of Kirribilli House on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull avoided direct criticism of China’s growing power in the region, but pointedly emphasised that the Asian giant’s ability to lift millions of its people out of poverty had been well-served by a rules-based international order.

That order had to be preserved, he said, quoting Singaporean founder Lee Kuan Yew’s dictum that “we don’t want to have a world where the big fish eat the little fish, and the little fish eat the shrimp".

Mr Turnbull said Australia and France shared a “vision of a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific” and would work  together to realise that vision through greater maritime co-operation, support for infrastructure in the region, and humanitarian and disaster relief.

“France is a Pacific power and its significant presence in the region can only bring benefits to Australia and to the region more broadly” Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Macron warned that it was important to have "balance" and "not to have any hegemony in the region''. He pointed out that after Brexit, France would be the only EU power in the Pacific.

French territories in the Pacific include the Wallis and Futuna islands, and New Caledonia, which Mr Macron will visit later this week. Fairfax Media has revealed growing concern among Australian officials about the extent of Beijing interest and influence in the Pacific, including the possibility of China establishing a military presence in Vanuatu.

Strategic analyst Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, described the leaders' joint vision statement released late on Wednesday  as  "comprehensive and quite profound, an ambitious convergence of Australian and French strategic interests [which is] a significant development in the Indo-Pacific story."

Stronger co-operation on cyber-security and terrorism was also high on the Turnbull-Macron agenda with Australia to host next year’s major conference on shutting down financing of terrorism.  Mr Turnbull  feted  Australia's acquisition of  12 new submarines which French Company Naval Group is helping design and build. He said the $50 billion program represented a  “strategic partnership that will last for generations". The two leaders also flagged a more intense exchange program across  education, health, culture and research.

Mr Macron’s was the stronger message on climate change, in line with his declaration at a formal dinner in Sydney on Tuesday night that “there is no plan B [on climate] because there is no planet B”. He spoke strongly in favour of the keeping the current nuclear deal with Iran, which US President Donald Trump has strongly signalled he will scrap, although conceding the pact needed to be expanded.

Mr Macron praised his Australian hosts, although his description of Lucy Turnbull as "delicious" (most probably meaning ''delightful'') left some bemusement in its wake.