Would you have kept that contract?
I wouldn't have signed it in the first place. Hey, I've got an idea, instead of buying an off the shelf, proven solution and getting, say, the existing Japanese diesel sub, why don't we ask the French to make a diesel version of their nuclear sub.
Yeah, that should work
Mind you, if we did keep the contract we would likely get these subs at least 10 years before we get anything from the new deal. As Macron said - you have signed a deal which as it stands at the moment, gives us an 18 month look at what might be possible, good luck with that. At the moment we have no replacement for the Collins Class and at least 18 months before we even get to start working out what to replace them with.
But the bleating French can cry me a river. Wouldn’t trust what Macron says anymore than Morrison or Putin or the Chinese bloke Xi. They sold us a $90m dog no matter what anyone says. $90m for obsolete technology that was miles behind in all facets of the project stage and over budget as well. Not too mention the technology will be out of date by 20 years by the time a sub hits the water.
The biggest issue was signing the dog of a deal in the first place. That’s on the Turnbull government. It has been a *smile* show all around from go to whoa and Australia is copping the fallout for its incompetence in every facet. But the French can *smile* off with their bleating; they have not delivered in any shape or form. The contract termination should have been handled far more diplomatically but the French are far from blameless.
Australia made sure it was a dog deal. It was Australia, actually to be more specific the Liberal National grossly incompetent coalition government, which went out and pursued this deal. A deal to gerry rig a nuclear sub and make it into a diesel sub. F*cking stupid would be a compliment when describing this deal.
Plus, another thing they pointed out on 7.30 tonight. The deal involved sharing French strategic intelligence about their defence equipment and capabilities. Something the French have never done before, never. So, we sign a deal, we become privy to their intelligence and then throw the deal away . . . and we're surprised they're pissed off? I suspect we are only seeing a tame version of how pissed off they are, and they have very good reason to be upset. The Australian government lied to the French and double crossed them. If not for our relationships with important allies of the French their ambassador would not have returned and they would likely have just cut ties and imposed sanctions.
This is the single most incompetent government I have ever seen. They actually don't seem to understand what they have done.
DS
www.theshovel.com.au
