Australia will pay $ 830 million to French shipbuilder Naval Group after the federal government cancels a $ 90 billion deal to buy 12 French submarines.
The deal “draws a line” under the discarded deal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference in Sydney on Saturday morning.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Saturday. Credit: Bianca De Marchi
Albanese said he hoped to fly to Paris soon to visit French President Emmanuel Macron, with the couple texting to finalize details of the deal and the next trip.
The prime minister said the estimated total cost of the canceled deal to buy French submarines from Naval Group was $ 3.4 billion, which was a “fair and equitable” deal.
“It raises the total cost of the old government’s failed policy to $ 3.4 billion. That’s a saving of the $ 5.5 billion that the Senate was told would result from this program,” he said.
“But it still represents an extraordinary waste on the part of a government that was always big in the announcements but was not good in delivery, and a government that will be remembered as the most wasteful government in the history of Australia from the federation.
“This is an opportunity to draw a line under what has been, I don’t think I need to address the point, that the tensions between Australia and France, I think, have been pretty obvious and go from the top.”
Albanese said he intended to have “an honest relationship with France and based on integrity and mutual respect,” and finalizing the agreement would allow the two countries to re-establish and advance the relationship.