‘Maybe we’re not friends’

THE former French ambassador to Australia has ripped into Scott Morrison for his defence of the AUKUS submarine deal, claiming the Prime Minister lied about warning France about it.

Jean-Pierre Thebault, who had been the French ambassador in Canberra since 2020, was recalled last week after France expressed outrage at being left out of the new nuclear submarine deal between the

US, UK and Australia.

Speaking to Radio National on Monday, Mr Thebault (pictured) said

France had been completely blindsided by Mr Morrison’s decision to accept the new deal.

“We discover(ed) through the press that the most important person in the Australian government kept us in the dark intentionally until the last minute and was not willing to at least have the decency to enter conversation about the alternative,” Mr Thebault said.

“This is not an Australian attitude towards friends. Maybe we’re not friends.”

Mr Morrison earlier said he warned French President Emmanuel Macron in June that Australia might scrap the deal.

“I made it very clear,” he said.