Australia's relationship with France is now only marginally better than its relationship with China - a country against which it is preparing conflict scenarios and all minister-to-minister dialogue have been cut off.
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J'accuse, cried Emmanuel Macron in Rome on Monday as the Australian government's betrayal of France over the $90 billion submarines deal reverberated into the G20 and COP26 summits this week with a new claim Scott Morrison lied about Australia's intentions.
For a leader of a G7 nation and permanent member of the UN Security Council to call the Australian Prime Minister a liar is a devastating new low for Australia's global reputation.
Much of the business of international diplomacy and trade is done on the sidelines of big global conferences attended by leaders of major powers. Scott Morrison knows this well, having hammered out the AUKUS pact at the G7+ last year, but has been given the cold shoulder on arrival during this trip.
US President Joe Biden did not unequivocally back Scott Morrison when given a chance in another embarrassment for the Prime Minister and an even greater concern for the strategists who have much riding on the strength of that relationship.
It's not going away. Jean-Pierre Thebault, ambassador of France of Australia who was briefly recalled in a signal of French displeasure at his host country, is speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
He met for over an hour on Monday with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, the only member of the government who seemed concerned in the last six weeks about the implications of offending an Indo-Pacific power during a time of deteriorating stability in the region. With no more progress than the threat of silent treatment off the table, Senator Payne described the meeting as constructive.
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Scott Morrison and his team are not taking the offence seriously, contrasting decades of careful strategic reputation management by Liberal prime ministers like John Howard and Malcolm Fraser.
Other government members described the French as having a "sook", said "Australia had to act this way" and the Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce declared on Monday: "we didn't steal an island; we didn't deface the Eiffel Tower."
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Harley Dennett
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
