Aquatic costings: Divorce and the Franco-Australian submarine agreement

Divorce settlements are rarely light affairs, and the creation of AUKUS was always going to come at a price for Australia. The scuppering of the diesel submarine deal between the Naval Group and Canberra in favour of nuclear-powered submarines and technology furnished by the US and the UK flayed Franco-Australian relations. But it also raised the thorny issue of what quantum of compensation would follow.

The Naval Group, of which the French government has a majority share, was unreserved in what it hoped to achieve in the settlement.