'Confidence shattered': France fumes over submarine text message leak

The leaking of private text messages between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the French leader has been described by French officials as "crude" and "inelegant".

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit in Rome. Source: AAP

French officials have taken aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the leaking of a private text message about the ill-fated submarines deal with French President Emmanuel Macron that has widened the bilateral rift between the two countries.

“Confidence has been completely shattered," a close adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron told Le Parisien. 

“Disclosing a text message exchange between heads of state or government is a pretty crude and unconventional tactic.”

The adviser told the French publication Mr Macron would never disclose communications of this kind, and that the move was unlikely "to improve relations between France and Australia".

Australian media on Tuesday published a message Mr Morrison had received from Mr Macron two days before the AUKUS security pact announcement in mid-September, which saw a $90 billion agreement with French company Naval Group dumped in favour of a new nuclear-powered submarines program.

Mr Morrison had reportedly attempted to set up a call with Mr Macron two days before the AUKUS alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom was announced.

Mr Macron then responded by text message and asked: "Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarine ambitions?"

PM Scott Morrison Source: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

French officials have previously said the Australian government did not inform them that the deal would be cancelled until the day the trilateral alliance was announced. 

A source close to Macron told AFP the leak was proof of "very inelegant methods", and it did not undermine that narrative that Mr Macron had not been given advanced notice of the cancellation.

"On the contrary, this SMS shows that the president did not know that they were going to cancel the contract," the source claimed.

They said Mr Macron was referring to known issues relating to "technical aspects" and the program's timetable in his message to Mr Morrison.

It is not clear how Mr Morrison responded to the message.

Mr Macron on Sunday responded "I don't think, I know" when asked by journalists if Mr Morrison had lied to him about the deal.

Mr Morrison rejected the accusation, telling reporters "No" and he didn't agree with suggestions he had lied.