Aukus fallout: Australia leaking text message from Macron a ‘new low’, says French ambassador

France’s ambassador to Canberra, Jean-Pierre Thebault, said Australia acted with deceit when it cancelled a submarine deal, and it was a ‘stab in the back’

Australian media publishing a leaked text from Emmanuel Macron to Scott Morrison shows private messages can be ‘weaponised against you’, he said

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France's ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault speaks to the National Press Club in Canberra on November 3, saying it is now ‘up to Australia’ to suggest ways to repair the damaged relationship. Photo: DPA

Published: 2:49pm, 3 Nov 2021Updated: 8:02pm, 3 Nov 2021

The row between Australia and France over the collapse of a submarine deal reached an “unprecedented new low” when a text message from the French president to Australia’s leader was leaked, France’s ambassador to Canberra said on Wednesday.

Emmanuel Macron sent the message to Prime Minister Scott Morrison two days before Australia announced that it had torn up a decade-old multibillion-dollar contract with France to build a new fleet of submarines.

Paris reacted furiously, and Macron added to the furore at the weekend by accusing Morrison of lying to him, a charge the Australian prime minister has batted away.

In a fiery speech on Wednesday, French ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault said the leaking of the private text was a new low.

“You don’t behave like this on personal exchanges of leaders who are allies. But maybe it is just confirmation that we were never seen as an ally,” he told Australia’s National Press Club.

“Doing so also sends a very worrying signal for all heads of state: beware, in Australia, there will be leaks.

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