Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison assured Friday that he had never lied in his public life, and felt he had enough leather to face accusations of dishonesty coming in particular from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Asked whether he had ever lied in public life, Mr Morrison replied to a Melbourne 3AW radio reporter: "I don't think I (lied), no, no".
Macron recently accused the Australian head of government of openly lying to him about a € 55 billion contract for twelve submarines, which was abandoned without warning in September.
The French president discovered at the last moment that Australia had secretly negotiated an agreement on nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Read alsoSubmarines: from the first flaws to the SMS unveiled, five months of crisis between France and Australia
"I know" Scott Morrison lied to me, Macron told Australian reporters earlier this month.
Scott Morrison's predecessor and Liberal rival, Malcolm Turnbull, fueled the controversy by claiming Mr. Morrison had a reputation for lying.
VIDEO.
Submarine crisis: "I know" that the Australian Prime Minister lied to me, says Emmanuel Macron
The Prime Minister's sincerity has become a major topic of debate on the Australian political scene and a possible weakness for Mr Morrison who could run for a second term in the elections next May.
But Mr. Morrison brushed off the question: "I learned in public life, over a long period of time, not to be too fine leather."
The head of government assures us that these accusations did not disturb him and that he was certain to have taken the right decision by breaking the engagement on the French submarines in order to ensure the national defense of his country.
"I was not impressed by the fact that it could upset some people and offend certain sensibilities," he insisted, pointing out that the American nuclear-powered submarine technology had not been shared with another. country since 1958 and an agreement with the United Kingdom.