French and Australian Defence ministers met in August and issued a joint communique [1] mentioning that they discussed "enhancing and diversifying France’s military co-operation with Australia" and stating that "both sides committed to deepen defence industry cooperation and enhance their capability edge in the region" and most specifically that "ministers underlined the importance of the Future Submarine program".

Announcing 2 weeks later that the contract was cancelled sounds like a "sudden" announcement to me, while the press reports that discussions had been ongoing for almost 18 months in secret make that communique slightly deceitful from Australian government imo.

[1]: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/med...