Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he doesn't believe he ever told a lie in public life, as he rejected allegations made against him by French President Macron and several other leaders.
Replying to whether the allegation calling him a "serial liar" hurt, the Australian PM, who was elected to parliament in 2007, said he has learned "not to have thin skin and not to get bitter".
"If you haven't got the thick skin to deal with that, you're in the wrong job", Morrison told 3AW Radio on Friday.
Morrison said that he is not worried about the accusations made by the French president because he was sure that the diesel-powered submarine contract with Paris wouldn't be the right thing for Australia.
"I wasn't intimidated by the fact that might upset some people and ruffle some feathers", he added.
'Stab in the Back': Ex-French Official Blasts New Trilateral Defence Deal Between US, UK & Australia
16 September 2021, 07:55 GMT
Morrison said that the nuclear submarine deal aligns with Australia's national security requirements, which will also ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.
During a short interaction with the media in Glasgow on 31 October, Macron said he "knew" Morrison had lied to him.
The French president rejected Morrison's repeated claim that Canberra had shared enough information with France before scrapping the $66 billion diesel-powered submarine deal with Naval Group on 15 September.
The cancellation of the deal prompted an angry reaction from France, with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian dubbing Canberra's move "a stab in the back".
In order to have deeper cooperation in the Indo-Pacific regions, the leaders of Australia, the UK, and the US, announced the creation of an enhanced trilateral partnership called "AUKUS".
As the first initiative under the trilateral pact, the leaders committed to "a shared ambition to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy". Under the arrangement, the US will share nuclear submarine technology with Australia, only the second country to receive access to such technology from the US since 1958. The nations agreed to implement the initiative in the next 18 months.