Malcolm Turnbull says Prime Minister Scott Morrison has behaved shamefully and should apologise to the French as diplomatic tensions continue to escalate between the two countries.
“I think Scott Morrison should apologise. Firstly, because he did very elaborately and duplicitously deceive France,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio on Tuesday morning.
“We had a relationship of the deepest trust and confidence [with] France. France shared with us some of their most [prized] secret technology on submarines. It was a partnership between two nations and it was the cornerstone of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy and to be double dealing the way Morrison did was shameful.”
Mr Turnbull was speaking from Glasgow, where he is attending the COP26 climate summit.
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week accused Mr Morrison of deceiving him about Australia's plans to tear-up a $90 billion submarine manufacturing deal with the French.
Asked if Mr Morrison had lied, Mr Macron said: "I don't think, I know."
Mr Morrison hit back at the French president on Monday, after a series of texts between the two leaders were leaked to some Australian media outlets.
“I must say that the statements that were made, questioning Australia’s integrity and the slurs that have been placed on Australia ... I’m not going to cop sledging of Australia,” Mr Morrison said from Glasgow.
But Mr Turnbull, under whose leadership the 2016 submarine deal with France was signed, says Mr Morrison should apologise to the French government.
“Scott Morrison is enhancing his reputation for being untrustworthy,” he said.
“When you're dealing with people, honestly, and Scott Morrison did not do that, you don't drop hints. You actually tell the truth."
Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd also weighed into the spat.
“This is enormously damaging to Australia’s global reputation," he told the ABC.
“It’s brand Australia, which is at stake here. And it’s been a careful investment on the part of successive governments over many generations - Labor and Liberal - in order to cause us to be seen as reliable, credible and trustworthy international partner.”
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has come to Mr Morrison’s defence, saying it was “a bridge too far” to accuse the prime minister of lying to the French government.
“There’s just no suggestion at all that can be credibly made about the prime minister lying,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio.
“We had factored in all along that the French were going to be upset about losing a contract of this size.”
