Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is staying tight-lipped on whether he’ll apologise to French President Emmanuel Macron over the Australian government’s unexpected cancellation of a billion-dollar submarine contract last year.
Albanese is in Paris to meet with the President and has told the press he’ll be working to mend the relationship.
“I think tomorrow, on the 1st of July, is an appropriate time with the new year to enter a new dawn and a new arrangement between Australia and France,” he said.
In September 2021 Australia unexpectedly abandoned a billion-dollar submarine contract with the French in favour of a new deal with the US and UK. At the time Macron claimed to be blindsided by the deal and accused former Prime Minister Scott Morrison of lying to him.
After Albanese was elected, he moved to repair the relationship and the pair struck a condensation deal with France worth over $550 billion.