Emmanuel Macron snubs Scott Morrison’s offer of phone call

Scott Morrison says he reached out to the French President over the dumped submarine deal but was told: ‘Not yet.’

Happier times: Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Emmanuel Macron, President of the France, in June. Picture: Adam Taylor/PMO

Scott Morrison has reached out to French President Emmanuel Macron to have a discussion about the dumping of the $90billion submarine contract and the recall of the French Ambassador to Australia but was told “not yet”.

The Prime Minister said in Washington Australia had reached out to President Macron after US President Joe Biden spoke to him and secured the return of France’s ambassador to the United States and a meeting in October.

President Biden agreed with President Macron that consultation with France could have prevented the diplomatic row last week when the French recalled the ambassadors to both Washington and Canberra.

The French and US Presidents “have decided to open a process of in-depth consultations, aimed at creating the conditions for ensuring confidence”, the Élysée Palace and the White House said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

In Washington Mr Morrison said Australia was in different position to the US because we were not a NATO partner, but he offered to contact President Macron.

Mr Morrison said he understood the French disappointment at the cancellation of the commercial contract with the French Naval group but also said there had been discussions for months about doubts about the strategic suitability of the diesel submarine.

Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have agreed to a new agreement to provide nuclear submarines to Australia instead of the French diesel submarines.

Mr Morrison said he discussed with President Biden the prospect of the phone call to President Macron at their bilateral meeting in New York on Monday.

The Prime Minister said the situation was different for the US which was a member of the North AtlanticTtreaty Organisation and had acted in relation to a commercial contract which would not meet Australia’s security needs.

PM: Great enthusiasm in US for subs deal

Scott Morrison says that there is “great enthusiasm” in Washington for the AUKUS submarine deal, which he argues will shore up the security situation in the Indo-Pacific.

“Today, Australia received overwhelming support for our AUKUS partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom,” he said.

“We received overwhelming support when it came to Australia moving ahead to establish a nuclear submarine fleet for Australia, to ensure that we could contribute to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific.

“There is great enthusiasm for us going ahead with these projects; whether it’s from the Secretary of Defence, or the bipartisan support that was on display today up on Capitol Hill, both in the House and Senate levels.

“In the Congress, there is an overwhelming sentiment towards Australia. This has been built on a 70-year alliance and more than 100 years of standing together.”

Asked about Boris Johnson’s jab at France, in which he suggested the country should “prenez un grip” (get a grip), Mr Morrison sidestepped the questions, claiming languages weren’t a strong suit.

“I don’t speak French, it wasn’t one of my strong suits - either at school or university,” the Prime Minister said. “But Boris has a way of expressing things as only Boris can.

“But look, my message is the same; we value our relationship with France.

“We still have around $6 billion worth of defence contracts with French companies. We have $32 billion worth of defence contracts with European countries.

“We see Europe and France working with like-minded partners in the region, to ensure a more stable and secure Indo-Pacific.”

PM’s tilt for nuclear subs to arrive early

Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton are working with the US and the UK on options for nuclear submarines to operate in Australia six to eight years earlier than expected after the dumping of the $90bn French defence contract.

The UK is proposing that two or three British nuclear submarines have a “persistent presence” in Australian waters and be serviced in Australian ports.

The US also has the capacity to deliver or use nuclear submarines around Australia within years, well before the expected construction of the new boats discussed under the AUKUS agreement announced last week.

The Prime Minister met US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in New York and Washington on Tuesday and discussed the initial assessment of the nuclear submarine proposal over the next 18 months.

The Australian decision to dump the French diesel submarine contract and join the UK and US in a new agreement to deliver nuclear submarines has caused serious diplomatic splits with France and threatened the progress of the Australia-European Union free trade agreement.

Apart from meeting Mr Biden and Mr Johnson, the Prime Minister spent the day in New York talking to European national and institutional leaders to explain Australia’s decision to pull out of the commercial contract with the French Naval Group and argue that the strategic decision should not affect the trade negotiations.

Mr Morrison was even able to sign a closer co-operation agreement with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, which specifically agreed to aid negotiations for the EU trade agreement.

Mr Morrison said the talks in the US on nuclear submarine options would “make sure that we have the right-sized option for Australia to pursue the right scale, to mean we can move as quickly as possible and get that capability in place”.

Scott Morrison greets Boris Johnson before a working dinner in Washington. Picture: Adam Taylor

One of the reasons the Australian government ended the French contract was the growing likelihood of delays in production, threatening a “capability gap” for our submarine fleet in the late 2030s and 2040s.

Different preferences are emerging on how to address the continuing problem of insufficient submarine protection: from encouraging the UK to virtually base nuclear submarines around Australia to bringing forward in some way US submarine involvement before the completion of the new nuclear submarines, expected to be around 2040.

Mr Morrison said the Defence Minister was working “to see how we can bring other elements to that capability in an even sooner timeframe”.

In response to questions, Mr Morrison said such options could include having the UK or the US commit their own submarines to the area and for Australia to service them. This would build expertise in Australian industry ahead of planned construction of the new nuclear submarines.

Mr Morrison said there were no commitments on any arrangements yet and they would be examined over the next 18 months.

“Being able to bring that capability to our region and to work with that, that provides training opportunities for Australians as we seek to build our capability, to be able to support our own -nuclear-powered submarine fleet over time,” he said.

“This is about Australia doing more and doing more with others and not just with the United States and the United Kingdom. Our policy, our plan, our strategy is about doing more and more with more partners to ensure a stability that delivers peace and security.

“I am confident that we can avoid the conflict that we all want to avoid, and I believe that ¬includes not only Australia and many countries in our region and friends across ASEAN, but I believe that extends to our partners in the Quad, Japan and India, as we’ll discuss later this week, as it indeed does to China.

“I have no doubt that’s what we all are seeking to achieve.”

Anthony Albanese continued to attack the government for the diplomatic fallout with France over the cancellation of the $90bn submarine contract with Paris.

“We’ve also been critical of the cost of the deal with France being walked away from, the timing and the lack of diplomacy that we’re seeing played out in that relationship. That’s an important relationship as well,” the Opposition Leader said.

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, said the deal demonstrated that Mr Morrison had failed to manage Australia’s foreign relations and called on him to repair the relationship with France.

“I think what you can see here is again Mr Morrison has been so focused on making the announcement that he doesn’t take responsibility for doing the whole job,” Senator Wong told ABC radio.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan rejected suggestions the government had any other options than to keep the talks with the UK and US for the new nuclear submarine fleet secret.

“The partnership that we have put in place with the US and the EU had to be conducted at the top secret level,” Mr Tehan told the National Press Club.

“That’s the only way that we could make sure that ultimately we could get and cement the -partnership that we have, which will not only give us access to nuclear-propelled submarines, but also will give us access to missiles, advanced missiles technology to advance cyber technology, to AI, and a raft of ... hardware and equipment that will enable us to keep ourselves safe in what is a very challenging geostrategic environment. Obviously the US have not entered into a partnership like this outside entering into it with the UK which they did over 50 years ago.

“So the discussions had to be done at a top-secret level and kept secret.”

Mr Tehan said the Morrison government understood the “deep disappointment” of the French, and argued that he would continue to advance talks on an Australia-EU free trade agreement when he arrived in Brussels as part of his upcoming international trip.

The French are lobbying other EU members against the agreement in retaliation for the Morrison government pulling out of the submarine contract, but Mr Tehan said the deal was in Paris’s best interest.

“The EU will use it as a foothold into the Indo-Pacific because they realise that the ¬region carries the economic weight of the world,” the Trade Minister said.

“When I was in Europe in May visiting Germany, Belgium and France I heard one common refrain: if Europe can’t negotiate a FTA with Australia, who in the Indo-Pacific could they negotiate one with. For the French, who export $6.17bn in goods and services to Australia while we send $1.37bn the other way – a comprehensive FTA is very much in their interest.

“It would see our economic partnership grow even further.”