France’s ambassador to Australia has vented his nation’s fury over the “intentional deceit” behind its scuttled submarine contract, repeating accusations they were lied to over the abrupt cancellation.
Jean-Pierre Thebault addressed the National Press Club on Wednesday where he declared it was now up to Australia to make amends for the increasing diplomatic fallout caused by the decision.
“The deceit was intentional,” he said. “The way it was handled was plainly a stab in the back.”
His speech comes just days following French President Emmanuel Macron’s declaration he had been lied to by Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the cancelled deal.
Mr Morrison has maintained his defence that the French were given fair warning the deal could be dumped.
But Mr Thebault said it was “fiction” to suggest the French government had been alerted to the decision to cancel the $90 billion submarine deal, insisting they were caught by surprise.
He said the cancellation had been made unilaterally by Australia and the French were not consulted despite "countless opportunities".
France's ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault delivers his speech at the National Press Club. Source: AAP
"Without having shared [information] frankly and openly, or having looked for alternatives with France, is just out of this world," he said. "Why was it impossible earlier to state the naked truth?"
The French envoy was recalled to Paris in September after Mr Morrison revealed Australia would work with the US and UK on a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership.
The decision cancelled the agreement for Australia to acquire diesel-powered Attack-class submarines from France.
The ambassador also took aim at the reported leak of a text message from Mr Macron to Mr Morrison days ahead of the agreement being cancelled, describing this as an “unprecedented new low”.
The message on 13 September had asked whether there would be good or bad news about the contract, confirming Mr Macron did not know the AUKUS alliance would be announced two days later.
“You don't behave like this on personal exchanges of leaders,” Mr Thebault said.
“Doing so also sends a very worrying signal for all heads of state. Beware, in Australia, there will be leaks.
"What you say in confidence to your partners will be eventually used and weaponised against you one day."
Mr Thebault said the decision to cancel the deal had damaged Australia’s “reputation” on the world stage and the responsibility now rested with the Australian government to repair the strained relationship.
“We won’t anymore buy cheap words - we won’t buy promises of love,” he said.
He said the Australian government would have to be “ambitious” and make “strong substantial proposals” but said he would not dictate what steps should be taken.
He also accused the government of using the AUKUS announcement to make a political statement ahead of the upcoming federal election.
"Politicians and elections make an interesting mix," Mr Thebault said.
Scott Morrison hits back
Mr Morrison later responded to Mr Thebault's criticism, saying Australia had acted in its defence interests and the French contract was no longer going to meet its needs.
"These contracts are about giving Australia the capability we need," he told reporters from the United Arab Emirates.
"It is important now that we all just move on frankly."
He said he did not intend to apologise to the French president.
The prime minister had his first face-to-face interaction with Mr Macron at this week’s G20 summit in Rome before the COP26 summit in Glasgow.
But French disappointment has continued to overshadow the diplomatic trip after Mr Macron told Australian media in Rome he had been misled by the abrupt cancellation of the contract.
Asked about whether he had been lied to, Mr Macron responded: “I don’t think, I know.”
Mr Thebault on Wednesday stood by his president’s accusation.
“Was the president lied to? Yes, he was,” he said.
“Among heads of states and governments, when you mislead a friend and an ally, you lie to him.”
The ambassador said upon his return to Australia he had been tasked with redefining “the terms of our bilateral relationship considering the major breakdown of trust with this Australian government".
The AUKUS security pact will instead give Australia access to nuclear-powered technology, but set back the timeline for submarines to enter the water until up to the 2040s.
