Morrison Government

French President Emmanuel Macron on Oct. 31 said Australia's prime minister outright lied to him over a cancelled submarine deal, deepening an already fraught diplomatic crisis.

"I don't think. I know," Macron said when asked by Australian media if Scott Morrison was untruthful in their private dealings.

Australia will begin to reopen its borders next month, the country's prime minister said on Oct. 1, 18 months after citizens were banned from traveling overseas without permission.

Scott Morrison said vaccinated Australians would be able to return home and travel overseas "within weeks" as 80 percent vaccination targets are met.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sept. 19 rejected France's accusations Canberra lied about plans to cancel a contract to buy French submarines, saying he had raised concerns over the deal "some months ago".

Australian authorities have been forced to introduce a lockdown in Sydney due to the new epidemic wave and reintroduce restrictive measures in other parts of the country.
Reuters report states that 18 out of a total of 25 million Australians, or 70 percent of the population, are under some form of anti-epidemic restrictions in almost all parts of Australia.

Facebook said on Feb. 23 it will lift a contentious ban on Australian news pages, after the government agreed to amend a world-first law requiring tech giants to pay media companies.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook said a compromise had been reached on key aspects of the law, which was fiercely opposed by the tech companies.

In a shocking act of retaliation on Feb. 18, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news, a milestone in the increasingly frantic jockeying between governments, media and powerful tech companies that one Australian minister called "an assault on a sovereign nation" and abuse of power.

Australia's embattled Prime Minister defended his government's climate policy on Dec. 23, as authorities warned the wildfires crisis ravaging the country's most populous state could fester for months.

Around 200 wildfires were burning in four states, with New South Wales accounting for more than half of them, including 60 fires not contained.