Scott Morrison kept AUKUS secret from cabinet ministers and senior diplomats

Scott Morrison reveals how he kept the ‘best kept secret since World War II’ from his most senior ministers and diplomats.

Scott Morrison and Marise Payne in April 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Senior diplomats and cabinet minsters were kept in the dark over AUKUS negotiations amid concerns that plans to acquire nuclear submarines from the US and Britain would be leaked through ­Australian embassies in Europe, scuttling the landmark deal.

The Weekend Australian can reveal then Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson – who is now Governor of South Australia – was only informed of the deal when it was brought before the national security committee of Cabinet in May 2021.

Other embassy officials and senior bureaucrats were also denied prior knowledge of the deal with cabinet minsters only told when it went to Cabinet days before it was announced.

“It was the most remarkably held project that I suspect many could ever recall,” former prime minister Scott Morrison told The Weekend Australian.

“In fact, it was the best kept ­secret in Australian history since the Second World War.

“This secrecy was so essential because the second it moved ­outside those who only needed to know, it was a risk.”

Mr Morrison defended the ­secrecy around early negotiations on the deal, which will be formalised on Tuesday (AEDT) under a defence pact that paves the way for an Australian sovereign ­nuclear-powered submarine capability.

The AUKUS pact, which was sealed behind closed doors on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, in 2021, triggered a damaging fallout with French President Emmanuel Macron after Australia walked away from its $90bn Attack-class submarine deal with Naval Group, a French majority-state-controlled company.

Mr Morrison on Friday said “only at that time were very ­specific individuals brought into the loop and this was essential ­because the second this went outside those who had a need-to know basis it was put at risk”.

“This wasn’t 007 but it was ­essential to its success … it was hard enough to get agreement on this on its merits, but had it broken outside the lines of containment it would have proven fatal to the project because it would have been in the public domain,” he said.

“It was so in the national ­interest to keep this tight.”

Anthony Albanese will fly to San Diego on the weekend ahead of announcing the final design of the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement with Mr Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday.

Speaking in New Delhi on Friday, Mr Albanese pledged to lift defence spending and do “what is necessary” to fund the mammoth cost of acquiring a nuclear-submarine fleet.

“The defence of our country is a solemn responsibility of government and it is one that I take seriously. This is an investment in our security and we will do what is necessary to keep our country ­secure,” Mr Albanese said.

Ahead of the May 9 budget, Mr Albanese flagged a significant increase in defence spending above 2 per cent of GDP.

Meeting at the home port of the US Pacific Fleet, the AUKUS leaders will outline details of the long-term nuclear submarine ­interoperability plan, aligning the workforces, technologies and Indo-Pacific strategic approaches of the three allies.

The Prime Minister, who is ­expected to hold separate bilateral meetings with Mr Biden and Mr Sunak in the US before arriving back in Australia on Wednesday night, is expected to commit to a multi-stage plan.

The plan, designed to address a looming capability gap and costly upgrades of the ageing Collins-class submarine fleet, is likely to involve purchasing five US ­Virginia-class boats before acquiring a fleet of British-designed subs incorporating key American technology, including US-designed nuclear reactors, combat systems and weapons.

The AUKUS nuclear submarine announcement is expected to be the final order of business for outgoing US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos before former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd replaces him in Washington DC on March 20.

Amid growing pushback from Xi Jinping against the US, Chinese ambassador to the UN and other international organisations Li Song in Vienna launched a scathing attack on AUKUS.

In a speech to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr Li ­criticised the AUKUS submarine deal as a “textbook case of nuclear proliferation” and an “unprecedented” transfer of weapon-grade uranium.

“The essence of the AUKUS nuclear submarine co-operation is the transfer of tonnes of weapon-grade highly enriched uranium by the United States and the United Kingdom, which are nuclear-weapon states and also the depository states of the NPT, to Australia, their military ally and a non-­nuclear-weapon state, out of geopolitical and strategic security considerations,” Mr Li said.

Peter Dutton said AUKUS and defence spending “is one of those issues where there truly is bipartisan support”.

“This is in the long-term interests of our country and when we negotiated AUKUS with the ­United Kingdom and the United States, what we had in mind was decisions that would keep our country secure in a very uncertain time,” the Opposition Leader said.

The former defence minister, who credited Mr Morrison with brokering the deal, had pushed hard to secure the Virginia-class submarines.

Following last year’s election, Mr Albanese extended the terms of Australian Defence Force chief Angus Campbell and Defence secretary Greg Moriarty – central figures in negotiating the AUKUS deal with their US and British counterparts – to ensure continuity in delivering the submarine deal and implementing Labor’s Defence strategic review.