"I won't cop sledging on Australia": ScoMo hits back
After French president Emmanuel Macron called Scott Morrison a liar, the Prime Minister has hit back.
While in Glasgow for the COP26 Climate Change conference, ScoMo told reporters that he would not "cop slurs" about the integrity of Australia, and that he had no regrets about his seemingly quick decision to back out of a $90 billion submarine contract with France.
Macron accused the Prime Minister of lying by not revealing he was in talks with the UK and the US over the acquisition of nuclear submarines before he pulled out of the French deal.
While at the G20 summit in Rome, Macron made the comment to Australian reporters, after several weeks to escalating diplomatic tensions between Australia and France.
“I have a lot of respect and a lot of friendship for (Australian) people,” he said.
“I just say when we have respect, you have to be true and you have to behave in line and consistently with this value."
When asked if he thought Mr Morrison had lied to him, he said: “I don’t think, I know”.
In a fiery response, Scott Morrison said he didn't wish to "personalise the spat", but would not accept “statements questioning Australia’s integrity”.
“There’s no element of that from my perspective. I must say that I think the statements that were made questioning Australia’s integrity and the slurs that have been placed on Australia, not me, I’ve got broad shoulders. I can deal with that."
“But those slurs, I’m not going to cop sledging at Australia. I’m not going to cop that on behalf of Australians."
“I can deal with whatever people throw at me. But Australia has a proud record when it comes to our defence capability. That’s why we will be building these. We’ll be building others. And Australia’s service record, I think needs no elaboration. And so that’s where we are.”
He went on to say that the conventional diesel submarines that would have been built under the French deal would not have met Australia's needs.
“I have to put Australia’s interests before any interests that involved potentially offending others,” he said.
Despite being at the Climate Change conference when Scott Morrison gave the interview, he dedicated all of his air time to responding to Macron, and no mention of Australia's climate change policy.
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