Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday defended the decision to not have consultations with the federal opposition Labor Party on the AUKUS pact before the tri-nation security arrangement was unveiled in September last year.
Under AUKUS, the US and the UK have committed to help the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to manufacture advanced nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) at home, as well as hypersonic missiles.
"I find it passing strange that you think that we wouldn't have maintained absolute discretion, as we did with so many members of our own cabinet," the Australian PM said.
"AUKUS is a ground-breaking agreement, the most significant defence security agreement Australia has entered into in over 70 years. And I was not going to risk that on the Labor Party," Morrison further remarked.
He went on to refer to claims that deputy opposition leader Richard Marles had visited the Chinese Embassy in Canberra on at least 10 occasions.
During a visit to China in September 2019, Marles had also called for “defence and political cooperation” between Canberra and Beijing.
“…you’ve got the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, who would have been sitting in such a briefing, who had, you know, frequent flyer points for visiting the Chinese Embassy in Australia,” argued Morrison.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald on 13 May claimed that the Biden administration had insisted upon the Morrison government taking Labor onboard months in advance on the AUKUS pact.
The White House reportedly told the Australian government officials that it would be a “deal-breaker” if AUKUS didn’t enjoy “bipartisan” support.
But the Morrison government rejected these concerns from the US for well over four months and informed the Labor Party about the pact only a day before it was officially announced on 16 September last year.
The Australian Prime Minister claimed that his government “absolutely complied with all of the issues that needed to be addressed in forming that partnership”.
Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition Anthony Albanese has rebuffed Morrison over the claim that Labor would have leaked details about the AUKUS pact.
"Labor laid the foundations for the US alliance during the Second World War, when Australia turned to Labor in its darkest hour. We have been supporters of the US alliance ever since," he said.
The Labor Party has affirmed its support for the AUKUS pact, but has consistently accused the government of “politicising” the security pact ahead of the election.
"Even though Labor could not have been more clear, more decisive, or more certain about our support for AUKUS, this Prime Minister has continued to play politics and to suggest that that wasn't the case at each and every opportunity," Albanese stated.