It started even before the devastation of New Year's Eve: a regional newspaper in France's Brittany region dedicated a whole page to the Australian bushfires, then causing so much damage to Queensland and New South Wales.

Along with a news report on the fires, Ouest-France published a stinging analysis titled "High on coal, rich Australia denies global warming".

"It was 2006. The researcher Christian Downie presented evidence of links between the rise in carbon emissions and global warming in a study published by The Australian Institute. Thirteen years later, a party in Australia, one of the richest countries in the world, continues to deny this scientific fact," Christelle Guibert wrote in her introduction to the piece which was adorned with a photo of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. It quoted an expert saying the denial was "incomprehensible".

Ouest-France's stinging criticism of the Australian government on climate change. Credit:Screengrab

Separately, the paper also ran criticism of his Hawaiian holiday.