A stab in the back French ambassador accuses Australia of deceit

France’s ambassador to Australia has 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”.

In a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre 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”.

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

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.”

The speech follows the diplomatic flare up between Australia and France which intensified this week after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of lying to him, while Mr Morrison said he would not cop “sledging of Australia”.

France reacted furiously to Australia’s decision in September to the dump the French agreement and instead sign the AUKUS defence pact with Britain and the United States to build nuclear-powered submarines. Following the announcement both Mr Thebault and the French ambassador to the United States were recalled to Paris for consultations with the government.

In his first public appearance since returning to Australia, the French ambassador repeated his government’s accusation that Australia’s actions amounted to a “stab in the back”.

Mr Thebault said Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton should not have held a meeting with their French counterpart just 17 days before the AUKUS announcement where they signed a joint communiqué 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.

He 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.

“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.

Share this post