Scott Morrison says French spies failed to detect the secret creation of AUKUS
Scott Morrison says France suffered a ‘complete failure of its intelligence services’ by not discovering the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal before it was announced.
Scott Morrison says France suffered a “complete failure of its intelligence services” by not discovering the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal before it was announced.
The former prime minister also slammed French President Emmanuel Macron over his claims that Mr Morrison lied to him about Australia’s AUKUS plans.
He said Mr Macron had “failed” to understand clear warnings he had given him during a dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris that Australia was looking at submarine options beyond France.
Mr Macron was furious when Australia cancelled its contract to build 12 French-designed conventional submarines in 2021 and instead created the AUKUS pact with the US and Britain to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
He claimed France had been blindsided by the decision.
Asked whether he thought Mr Morrison had lied to him over the submarines, Mr Macron replied: “I don’t think, I know.”
In his book Plans for Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness, Mr Morrison provides a detailed account of how the AUKUS plan unfolded and says he never lied to Mr Macron about submarines.
He says China’s rise made it imperative that Australia pursue nuclear-powered subs rather than the conventional subs it planned to acquire from France.
When he met with Mr Macron in June 2021, the AUKUS pact was close to fruition but not yet certain so Mr Morrison says he had no choice but to keep the French deal alive at that moment. “It (AUKUS) could still fall down. I still needed option A,” he says.
Mr Morrison says when he arrived to meet with Mr Macron at the palace “I could not leave that dinner without making it clear we were reconsidering our position on Australia’s submarine project with France”.
He maintains that this is what he did. “I explained there had been significant changes in the strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific (and) I said this meant conventionally powered submarines would no longer do the job we needed them to do. We needed nuclear-powered submarines. I told the President we were going to have to look at other options.’
He says Mr Macron asked what those options were but Mr Morrison said he could not discuss those at this stage. He says Mr Macron said “I don’t like to lose”.
The next day, Mr Morrison says, the French defence establishment went into overdrive to try to shore up Australian support for the French project, a sign Mr Macron knew the French contract was under threat.
The day before the AUKUS announcement, Mr Morrison sent a message to Mr Macron to try to schedule a call with him, to which Mr Macron replied: “Should I expect good news or bad news for our joint submarine ambitions?”
Mr Morrison writes: “This was not a question from someone who was oblivious to our concerns or the mortality of his submarine contract.
“He had not been misled, as was later claimed.”
Mr Morrison says the French government may have been embarrassed by the apparent failure of its own intelligence service to detect the secretive creation of AUKUS before it was announced.
“I suppose admitting the French government had failed to take what we were saying seriously, or there had been a complete failure of their intelligence services, would have been more embarrassing,” Mr Morrison writes.
He says he knew that the cancellation of the French contract would damage the relationship with France but there was nothing he could do about it once he had decided on the AUKUS option.
“I had to choose between ensuring Australia was better able to protect itself for generations to come from the most significant threat we had faced since we were bombed by Japan during World War II, or facing the fury of an offended French president.
“I chose to stand up to those seeking to bully us and put up with the storm from the French.
“The alternative was to let fear control my decisions and do nothing, leaving Australia exposed and weakened,” Mr Morrison writes.
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