Australia prime minister attacks French leader’s credibility

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has attacked the credibility of French President Emmanuel Macron as a newspaper quoted a text message that suggested France anticipated “bad news” about a now-scuttled submarine deal. Macron this week accused Morrison of lying to him in June about the fate of a contract to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Australia dumped that deal when it formed an alliance with U.S. and Britain to acquire a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines built with U.S. technology. Morrison said he made clear to Macron in June that conventional submarines would not meet Australia’s needs. Macron later texted: “Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarines ambitions?”