Australia has been labelled a climate change "pariah" and untrustworthy when it comes to international relations in the wake of the COP26 summit and the Prime Minister's recent stoush with French President Emmanuel Macron.

During a raucous episode of Q+A, Scott Morrison's own party member, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, railed against the PM's political stoush with Mr Macron.

He criticised the leaking of text messages between the Prime Minister and Mr Macron, which came after the French President's accusation that Mr Morrison was a liar.

Mr Kean backed the decision to exit the French submarine deal, but said Mr Morrison handled the situation with Mr Macron poorly.

"The substantive decision was the right one in our national interests," Mr Kean said of ending the submarine deal and entering the AUKUS alliance.

"So I think our international reputation is damaged."

When asked about the leaking of text messages, he was even more blunt in his criticism of his party and the nation's leader.

"I don't think it's appropriate that we act this way if we want to build trust, particularly with our closest friends and allies, and I think this brand of politics is not in our national interest," he said.

"[It is] a brand of politics which seeks to divide, seeks to play things out through the media, seeks to push misinformation and play games.

"We need to be finding common ground and building trust with our allies and friends. That's the brand of politics which I think is in our national interest."

His comments were echoed by many members of the panel who felt Mr Morrison had damaged Australia's international standing.

Greens leader Adam Bandt took it a step further, calling for Mr Morrison to apologise to Mr Macron.

"I think now there needs to be an apology.

"Scott Morrison needs to work together with President Macron and other EU leaders on climate because this has damaged Australia's reputation.

"Countries are now saying at Glasgow, 'If you can't trust what Australia says and if the Prime Minister is going to leak your text messages to the media when you're having discussions between heads of state, how can we trust them on climate and on other issues?'

"When we're facing such a global crisis, that's a terrible position to be in."

However Greg Sheridan, foreign editor of The Australian newspaper, said it was Mr Macron who was out of line for calling the Prime Minister a liar.

"I don't think Morrison lied to Macron beyond conducting … sensitive nuclear negotiations confidentially," Sheridan said.

"I don't think he told any specific lie to Macron.

"I think the great breach of protocol is Macron calling him a liar at an international conference.

Sheridan went on to say the leaking of the text message exchange was not a unique incident in world politics.

"I don't want to break any secrets or disappoint anybody, but having done international journalism for 40 years, I find governments leak on each other all the time. Constantly."

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It was not the only time the Prime Minister was criticised on the program, with Mr Bandt taking at Mr Morrison's actions at the COP26 climate conference and particularly Australia's refusal to sign up to a commitment to shift away from coal.

Major coal-using countries, including Poland, Vietnam and Chile, are among the signatories to the deal but Australia, India, China and the US are absent from that list.

It was a decision that did not sit well with the Greens leader — who appeared on the show wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "no more coal and gas" — and he went on the attack against Mr Morrison.

"We have to get out of coal and gas," he said.

"That has been the whole point of this COP conference.

"The US has led a process to say let's cut gas because gas is as dirty as coal, and others like the UK have led a process to say let's get out of coal, and Australia has played a spoiler role.

"The whole world is saying we need to get out of coal and gas and they are signing pledges to do it and Australia is turning up and Scott Morrison is giving them the middle finger."

"Australia is now a handbrake on world action."

Asked to respond after it was revealed several of his federal Coalition colleagues, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Angus Taylor, Dan Tehan, Keith Pitt, Sussan Ley, Bridget McKenzie, Zed Seselja and James Paterson, all refused invitations to appear on Q+A on Thursday night, Mr Kean said he wanted the federal government to do more when it came to climate change.

"The reality is the future of coal is going to be determined by foreign governments and foreign companies," he said.

"Right now those foreign governments and foreign companies are moving to a clean energy future. So rather than investing in the technologies of the past, we must make sure we set ourselves up to grab the enormous economic opportunities that are going to come with a low-carbon future."

"I think the Commonwealth government should be doing a lot better because it's not only in the nation's environmental interest to do so, it's in our economic interest to do so."

Sheridan did not agree with Mr Bandt and Mr Kean but he had a message for the federal government. He warned it was losing the battle on the narrative surrounding climate change, and refusing invitations to air the government's views was a "tremendous mistake".

"I think the federal government makes a tremendous mistake not appearing on Q+A," Sheridan said.

"They're losing the argument [on climate change] and should be putting [forward their] argument whenever they can … It's incredibly dumb of them."

'Australia is the pariah' in Glasgow

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The hits though kept on coming for the government as climate justice lawyer Kavita Naidu joined the panel from Glasgow, where she has been at the COP26 conference.

Asked about whether Australia was doing enough to combat climate change for its Pacific neighbours, she said the view from COP26 was a dim one.

"Australia is the pariah here right now," Ms Naidu said.

"It has not enhanced its ambitions since 2015.

"Most countries are really stepping up to making sure that by 2030, so in the next decade, we see some real reductions in emissions. Australia is not giving that at all, we're playing with numbers.

"Twenty-five per cent, 35 per cent, the fact is it needs to do it by 75 per cent if there's any chance of us to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

Mr Bandt said Australia's behaviour towards its Pacific neighbours, currently among the most affected by climate change, needed to improve.

Mr Kean said relationships were a two-way street, and if Australia wanted help with other issues, such as dealing with Chinese ambitions in the region, it needed to help its neighbours combat climate change.

"I think we should be good friends to our neighbours," Mr Kean said.

"If we want our neighbours to stand by us on the issues we care about — we're seeing the Chinese Communist Party trying to expand their influence through the Pacific and through the Belt and Road Initiative — so too should we be concerned about the issues they're concerned about."

Watch the full episode on iview or via the Q+A Facebook page.