Australian spies got to listen in on the telephone calls of French presidents, but not those that US intelligence agencies thought were particularly sensitive and important, according to leaked intelligence reports published by WikiLeaks.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's private thoughts on the 2008 global financial crisis and his predecessor Jacques Chirac's personal instructions relating to the appointment of French officials to posts at the United Nations were the subject of highly classified United States National Security Agency (NSA) reports that were shared with Australia and other "Five Eyes" intelligence partners including the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

Other more sensitive reports, however, were marked "NOFORN" - meaning that they were too sensitive to be disclosed to non-US personnel and were withheld from close US allies including Australia.

These top-secret reports included details of current French President Francois Hollande's concerns about Greece's possible departure from the Eurozone and his government's relationship with Germany, as well as Mr Sarkozy's private comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict and complaints about the US spying on France.