A stab in the back French ambassador slams PM over leaked Macron texts

France’s ambassador in Canberra says the Australian government’s leaking of text messages between French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Scott Morrison is an “unprecedented new low” that raises questions over whether other countries can trust Australia.

Mr Morrison rejected new French claims of a “stab in the back” over a cancelled submarine contract but refused to say whether his office leaked the private messages from Mr Macron that has set off another diplomatic storm of protest in Paris.

The French ambassdor to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, has defended his country’s submarine program saying it was never over budget or delayed.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

France’s ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, on Wednesday laid out his country’s timeline of events leading up to the federal government dumping the $90 billion submarine deal, saying his country had concluded that the “deceit was intentional” and a “stab in the back”.

The coordinated leak to three separate Australian newspapers of Mr Macron’s text messages occurred hours after the French President accused Mr Morrison of lying to him over the handling of the announcement to build nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and Britain under the AUKUS defence pact.

After delivering a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, Mr Thebault said the leak of messages was “an unprecedented new low in terms of our privacy, and also in terms of truth and trust”.

“You don’t behave like that on personal exchanges of leaders who are allies,” he said.

“But doing so also sends a very worrying signal for all other states: ‘Beware, in Australia there will be leaks, and what you say in confidence to your partners will be eventually used and weaponised against you’.”

Mr Thebault said the texts proved that France was kept in the dark and it was concerned with trying to meet all of Australia’s requests to allow the project to continue to the next phase.

“Those leaks are not concrete actions we are looking for. But if it is Australia’s answer, it is sad... But we don’t consider this is the way Australia likes to react.”

According to reports in The Daily Telegraph, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review, two days before the AUKUS arrangement was announced, Mr Macron messaged Mr Morrison to say that he was not available at the time Australia was seeking a phone conversation.

“Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarines ambitions?” Macron reportedly said in the text messages.

Asked in Dubai if the leaked text message came from his office, Mr Morrison did not admit or deny authorising the leak of a text message sent to his personal phone but said he made very clear what the timeline was on the cancellation of the deal.

“Claims had been made and those claims were refuted,” he said.

Mr Morrison said he wanted to put an end to days of escalating dispute over a personal clash with Mr Macron.

“This contract was about delivering the best possible capability for the men and women who serve in our defence forces â€" that’s what these contracts are about.”

Trying to rule a line under the affair, Mr Morrison said he had tried to be clear about the communications with Mr Macron’s office but did not want to comment on the leaks.

“I don’t think there’s any further profit for anyone in continuing down this path,” he said.

“We made the decision we needed to make in Australia’s national interest. We understand the concerns and objections that have come in relation to that. They were understood when we made the decision. That was the decision Australia needed to make in our national interest.

“I’m very keen to ensure that now we move on and deliver that capability.”

The political fallout continued on Tuesday when French government officials expressed their anger to Le Parisien at the leak to the Australian media of a private text from Mr Macron to Mr Morrison on around September 13.

Advisers to Mr Macron told the French newspaper the leak, which they blamed on Mr Morrison’s office, was a “pretty crude” tactic to respond to the President’s remarks.

In a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr Thebault reiterated that his government has no gripe with Australia or the Australian people, but with “certain aspects of the ‘Canberra Bubble’ and its’ ‘Secret City’s’ practices”.

Mr Thebault also urged Australia to significantly increase its 2030 emissions reduction target from 26-28 per cent to 45 per cent, saying: “The time for prevarication has ended. Except if one is to become an accidental ally of the remaining who resist action.”

France reacted furiously to Australia’s decision in September to dump the French agreement and instead sign the AUKUS defence pact with both Mr Thebault and the French ambassador to the United States recalled to Paris for consultations with the government.

In his first public appearance since returning to Australia, the French ambassador said the Australian government did lie to Mr Macron.

“Was the President lied to? Yes he was. I have several examples,” he said.

“Maybe there is a difference between misleading and lying. But you know, among head of states and governments, when you mislead a friend and an ally, you lie to him.”

Mr Thebault said Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton should not have held a meeting with their French counterparts just 17 days before the AUKUS announcement agreeing to “underline the importance” of the submarine agreement.

“Do you agree on such a joint communiqué when there is the slightest doubt on something so massive as the official backbone of our cooperation? Maybe on Mars. But not on this planet,” he said.

Mr Thebault also hit out at the Australian government for not pushing back against negative media reports of the French attack-class submarine program, insisting the project was not over budget or delayed. He said the program was always budgeted at $50 billion in “constant” dollars, which doesn’t take inflation into account over the life of the program.

“The Attack class program has been intentionally vilified to become an easy scapegoat, to justify a change of footing that was long time in the making,” he said.

“And because there was far more at stake than providing submarines, because it was a common agreement on sovereignty, sealed with the transmission of highly classified data, the way it was handled was a stab in the back.

“These are not things which are done between partners, even less between friends. Especially in view of the strong historical ties that exist between our people and our strong political, strategic common interests for our citizens in this region, for the peoples of the whole region.”

He said the French submarine agreement program was “always far more than a contract” because Australia was being transferred “highly sensitive capabilities”.

Mr Thebault also raised significant concerns about the AUKUS agreement, which involves an 18-month review to decide on how to build nuclear-powered submarines using British or American propulsion technology with highly enriched uranium.

“The Australian government is abandoning a solid cooperation with well-established parameters for a yet unspecified project, without even a solid transition. A mere ‘project of a project’ Not even the length of the study of the study is certain.”

Mr Thebault also said the AUKUS agreement could have implications for our “common efforts to strengthen non-proliferation” of highly enriched uranium.

“The new prospect therefore entails very specific responsibilities for Australia which will be scrutinised by the international community. Reconciling this project with the imperatives of nuclear non-proliferation will be a long and complex job,” he said.

After meeting with Senator Payne on Monday, Mr Thebault said it was now up to the Australian government to restore the bilateral relationship with France following the “breach of trust”.

Anthony Galloway is foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.David Crowe is chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via Twitter or email.

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