"When I look at Australia I do see that you have been working far better than us in the past 20 years to bring new immigrants into your communities and in that sense Australia is the true model."

French ambassador to Australia Christophe Lecourtier said his hometown was attacked because France is 'at war'. Credit:ABC

The comments followed Mr Lecourtier's assertion that Paris – his hometown - had been attacked because the nation was "at war".

"It's a war because the values that we share, the values that we have been sharing with Australia probably since the First World War are at stake," he told the audience of 1200.

"[The shared values mean] that we want to be able to go out with anybody, to dress as we want, to be in love with any people that we want.