Canberra is "one of the biggest national mistakes we ever made", according to one of Australia's leading diplomats.
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In a session with journalists in the Indonesian capital, Australia's ambassador there, Gary Quinlan, revealed that he had been advising the Indonesian government about moving its capital to a new site.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the ambassador used undiplomatic language to describe the Australian experience of creating a new capital city.
"I'm not a fan of Canberra, never have been, I think it's one of the biggest national mistakes we ever made, but anyway that's neither here nor there, now that I've got that off my chest - but there is a lot of exchange of that information which is beginning," Mr Quinlan said, according to the Australian reporter.
I'm not a fan of Canberra, never have been, I think it's one of the biggest national mistakes we ever made.
- Gary Quinlan, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia
Mr Quinlan is one of Australia's highest ranking diplomats. He heads what is one of Australia's biggest diplomatic missions abroad in a country seen as crucial to Australian interests.
He was also Australia's representative at the United Nations and served two terms as president of the UN Security Council.
In the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to public administration in the field of international relations as a senior diplomat and ambassador, and as an adviser to government on foreign policy."
Politicians associated with Canberra rushed to defend their home city.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Canberra was home to the best educated, healthiest, longest living and happiest Australians.
"Canberra is Australia's greatest regional development success", he said.
"Our city has been ranked as the world's most liveable city according to the OECD Better Life Index [and] our economy has grown to be larger than the state of Tasmania and is now the sixth largest in Australia."
And the Liberal Senator for the ACT, Zed Seselja, said, "If the reports today are true, it is completely unacceptable behaviour by an Australian official to bag our nation's capital while overseas. Mr Quinlan needs to pull his head in. I have raised my concerns about this behaviour directly with the Foreign Minister."
Mr Quinlan's comments came as he was describing how information had been exchanged between Australia and Indonesia about how to construct a planned capital city. According to the journalist, the idea was to focus on "where we think we might have failed".
One of the lessons Indonesia could learn, according to the Australian diplomat, was that Canberra was too spread out and "had no natural centre".
Indonesia's new capital on an island is set to be operating by 2024, with construction due to start next year.
It is not known when Mr Quinlan's term ends and when - or if - he will return to Canberra.