Paul Keating

Former Labor PM blasts 'incompetence' of his party for backing nuclear submarine agreement with US and UK.

[China](https://www.theguardian.com/world/china) “is not the Soviet Union” because it is involved in international institutions and would “fall over themselves to have a proper relationship” with Australia, except that Australia has “manufactured a problem” through its increasing alignment with US. He warned that “no mealy mouthed talk of stabilisation … The French received “no response”, Keating claimed. You can only do it if you have no perceptive ability to understand the weight of the decisions you’re being asked to make,” he said. “It’s what other people call incompetence.” China sees Taiwan, a self-governed democracy of 24 million people, as a wayward province and has not ruled out taking it by force.

A former prime minister has launched a blistering attack on the AUKUS agreement and his former party.

"I'm not going to defend China about the Uyghurs ... This government, the Albanese government, does not employ foreign policy." A long-awaited United Nations report in 2022 found allegations that Uyghurs faced "patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention ... “We have a continent with our own [and] a border with no-one. Three are going to protect us from the might of China. This is what this is about,” he said. "The Albanese government's complicity in joining with Britain and the US ... The American president can hardly keep three coherent sentences together," Mr Keating said. “The idea that we need American submarines to protect us … “The only way the Chinese could threaten Australia or attack it is on land. I mean, the rubbish of it.” I mean, how deeply pathetic is that?"

The former prime minister also said Albanese was relying on two 'seriously unwise' ministers, Penny Wong and Richard Marles.

He said, “remarkably, a Labor government has picked up Shearer’s neo-con proclivities and those of ASPI”, describing the latter as “a pro-US cell” headed by a former chief of staff to ex-Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Keating said he had generally found Albanese to be responsive to his calls, texts and emails. “We wouldn’t need submarines to sink an armada,” he said. Under this approach, “you may stay out of trouble but you are compromised. He added that threatening Australia would mean “an invasion”. Though Keating said Marles was “well-intentioned”, he believed the defence minister was “completely captured by the idea of America.”

Paul Keating lashed this week's AUKUS decision as the worst by a Labor government since conscription in WWI. Some, including former colleague Kim Beazley, ...

[Do you have what it takes to operate a nuclear submarine?](https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-operate-a-nuclear-submarine-20230214-p5ck9k)Take a deep dive into the world of the nuclear submarines Australians will be operating thanks to the AUKUS deal. [Experts pinpoint top AUKUS headache - and it’s not money](https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/experts-pinpoint-australia-s-top-aukus-headache-and-it-s-not-money-20230315-p5cs55)Analysts warn that Britain and Australia may need to in effect alternate the production of the subs if there are not enough workers to go around. [‘US forces give the nod’ and the Labor Left goes missing](https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/us-forces-give-the-nod-and-the-labor-left-goes-missing-20230315-p5cs8f)The Left used to oppose the US military and nuclear power. [Why China war defies logic](https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/why-china-war-defies-logic-20230314-p5cs2j)The drums of war have been beating loudly over the past two weeks. “It’s a question of their speed and the areas that they have to cover. [Second-hand subs won’t have full missile capability](https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/second-hand-subs-won-t-have-full-missile-capability-20230315-p5cs57)Australia’s first nuclear submarines under the AUKUS pact will be the older version of America’s Virginia-class without a special undersea missile launching capability. “Unfortunately, this is something the media is quite excited to pick up on because it’s colourful. [Fiji backs AUKUS as Canberra soothes regional tensions](https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/fiji-backs-aukus-as-canberra-soothes-regional-tensions-20230314-p5cs3v)One of the Pacific’s key leaders says he supports the AUKUS agreement as the Albanese government continues its diplomatic blitz. But to play the man or the woman, not the ball, should be beneath him. “This one, AUKUS, is where Labor breaks its winning streak of now over a century. Paul cannot be ignored.” “As a long-time member of the Left, I come from a tradition of pursuing peace and diplomacy.

Former prime minister Paul Keating has decried Anthony Albanese's AUKUS submarine announcement as the "worst international decision by an Australian Labor ...

And I can read." "What would be the point? And I can think. He also referred to former UK prime minister Boris Johnson as "one of the great vulgarians of our time", Australian security agencies as "dopey" and the Defence Department as "hapless". "What would be the point of China wanting to occupy Sydney and Melbourne?" "The Albanese government's complicity in joining with Britain and the United States in a tripartite build of a nuclear submarine for Australia under the AUKUS arrangements represents the worst international decision by an Australian Labor government since the former Labor leader, Billy Hughes, sought to introduce conscription to augment Australian forces in World War I," Keating said.

Former prime minister Paul Keating's criticism of Labor for backing the AUKUS idea turned into an extraordinary spray this week after the final details of ...

This goes to the heart of the strategic shift under AUKUS. The only "threat" we should worry about is the utterly far-fetched prospect of Chinese troops landing on Australian soil. Nor does Kim Beazley, who served as defence minister in the Hawke Government, Labor leader for nearly six years and Ambassador to Washington. The prolific cyber-attacks were dismissed as the normal behaviour of a big power. Ultimately, the Keating criticism won't stop AUKUS. "They're a major state." But for the most senior members of the Government — Anthony Albanese, Richard Marles and Penny Wong — it's not so easy to brush this off. Keating wouldn't even accept criticism of Beijing for what a United Nations report has described as "serious human rights violations" against its minority Uyghur population. "Running around the Pacific islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy," he declared. "At the Kabuki show in San Diego, there's three leaders standing there. "The Albanese Government does not employ a foreign policy." Joe Biden was described as a president who "can hardly put three coherent sentences together".

Paul Keating has blasted some of the nation's most senior journalists and Penny Wong in a sensational address following the signing of the landmark AUKUS ...

What you do with the United States. “What would be the point of China wanting to occupy Sydney and Melbourne? I mean, I know you’re trying to ask a question, but the question is so dumb, it’s hardly worth an answer.” It’s a consular task,” he said. It wasn’t just reporters in the room whom Mr Keating criticised. Could you be out of touch on this issue?” he was asked.

Labor MPs lashed former prime minister Paul Keating over his AUKUS comments, millions of Australians drained their super during the pandemic and there are ...

“Housing is a human right and the deplorable state of housing in remote communities, its impacts on health, education and employment opportunities, should not be tolerated in a country as wealthy as Australia,” lawyer Dan Kelly said. In question will be whether the territory’s government should compensate tenants in the remote community of Santa Teresa for distress caused by lack of reasonable living conditions. The Northern Territory’s failure to provide adequate public housing will be examined in the High Court, with implications for the nearly 3 million Australian households that rent.

The government is defending itself after stinging criticism from former prime minister Paul Keating on its historic AUKUS submarine deal.

Keating gave a blistering assessment of the Aukus agreement and senior government figures, including Albanese himself, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, ...

And then when they leave the navy and they get sick of, you know, sailing around under the water for months on end, they go and work in the nuclear industry. “The bottom line is their economy is sick. So in the United States, there is a big nuclear industry, so people will join the navy, get their nuclear training, engineering, physics and so forth. “It is unfortunate that Mr Keating chose such a very strong personal statement against people. And I disagree with his attitude towards the state of the world in 2023. But that is his prerogative to do, so I fundamentally disagree with his view.

The Prime Minister has responded to his party's eldest statesman slamming a significant submarine deal on national television.

we disagree on human rights, we disagree on the South China Sea. my position on China is that we should co-operate where we can, but disagree where we must … Paul is someone who has my utmost respect for what he achieved …

“I'm yet to see the significant pushback from the Labor government and Labor ministers against the comments that Paul Keating has made,” Ms Andrews told Sky ...

Nine responded to ex-PM Paul Keating's comments made at the National Press Club at the Sydney Morning Herald and its reporters.

[recently marked 40 years](https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-great-privilege-of-journalism-peter-hartcher-reflects-on-40-years-in-the-job-20220217-p59xdi.html?utm_content=INTRO&list_name=2F18B764-6607-4DC4-8A1A-893AF9A72AA4&promote_channel=edmail&utm_campaign=note-from-the-editor-smh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=2023-03-15&mbnr=MjA0MjgyMDI&instance=2023-03-15-21-00-AEDT&jobid=29564065) with the Herald – as a “psychopath” and “maniac”. Keating said: “You ought to do the right thing and drum yourself out of Australian journalism” and called the Herald a “newspaper without integrity”. “Some of you didn’t like the series and others viewed it a brave assessment of the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party and of Australia’s lack of preparedness to prevent these threats from spilling over into war,” he said.

The prime minister accused his predecessor of diminishing himself by attacking Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles.

It is China that has seen the fastest and most significant growth in military expenditure in the post-war period of any nation, and that is just a fact.” That’s the truth of the matter.” China is a world-trading state - it is not about upending the international system.” [Inside Politics newsletter here](/link/follow-20170101-p5apym). We don’t face a region that we hope we had. “I fundamentally disagree with his view, and I disagree with his attitude towards the state of the world in 2023.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claims his predecessor Paul Keating's blistering attack on the AUKUS deal had "diminished him", while Foreign Minister Penny ...

"I would say to Mr Keating to consider the evidence that was presented to the [United Nations] through the UN report on this matter. "We don't face the region of 30 years ago. trauma." "That would be the new French nuclear submarine, the newest one in the world - 5 per cent only enriched uranium, not 95 per cent weapons-grade. No response have the French had to that." I recognise the ... "I'll tell you something else, which I don't think that the media knows, but I know. That is what we do," he said. "Paul Keating wasn't complimentary about all three of us yesterday, but that is his prerogative to do so. We don't face the region that we hope we had, we face the region of today, and we have to work to ensure the region we want for the future," she said. We engage in good faith. I don't think that does anything other than diminish him, frankly.