Keating turns fury on Labor and government over AUKUS deal
© AAP Former prime minister Paul Keating has criticised his own party for supporting the Morrison government’s new AUKUS agreement
Former prime minister Paul Keating has escalated his attack on the new AUKUS security partnership unveiled by the Morrison government, unleashing fury on his own side for supporting the deal and characterising it as the "surrender" of Australia's control of its military.
In a no-holds-barred statement, the former Labor leader said Prime Minister Scott Morrison has led Australia away from the Asian century and back towards a "jaded and faded Anglosphere", with the current ALP leadership "complicit in [a] historic backslide".
Mr Keating takes particular aim at Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Senator Penny Wong, saying that in her five years in the role she has "by her muted complicity with the government's foreign policy and posture… neutered Labor's traditional stance as to Australia's right to strategic autonomy".
"Instead Wong went along with the stance of [former coalition foreign minister] Julie Bishop and [current foreign minister] Marise Payne … and did it with licence provided by Bill Shorten as leader, and now, Anthony Albanese".
Mr Keating's furious broadside comes amid worsening diplomatic fallout from the AUKUS announcement, which saw Australia dump its $90 billion contract to acquire conventionally powered submarines from France in favour of a new, trilateral "security partnership" with the UK and the US which would provide the Royal Australian Navy with eight nuclear-powered submarines, at an as-yet-unknown cost.
Mr Morrison hailed the pact, unveiled to a surprised world on September 16, as a means of fostering deeper integration of Australian, US and UK security interests in the Indo-Pacific, along with enhanced access to a range of cutting-edge defence technologies and munitions.
But the move infuriated France, which was given only a few hours' notice of the decision, and led to Malaysia and Indonesia publicly worrying about a new arms race in the region.
Mr Keating, who served as a member of the international advisory board of the China Development Bank, (alongside, at one stage, the former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger), has long championed Australia forging its own destiny in Asia.
He accused Mr Morrison of "shopping" Australia's sovereignty by "locking the country and its military forces into the force structure of the United States" through the planned nuclear submarine acquisition.
"It takes a monster level of incompetence to forfeit military control of one's own state", he said, "but this is what Scott Morrison and his government have managed to do"
Mr Keating insisted China presented no military "threat" to Australia, despite the steadily mounting list of punitive trade measures Beijing has levelled against Canberra.
While acknowledging a "more aggressive international posture" on the part of the current Chinese regime, he asserted that "by determinedly casting China as an enemy… [the government is] creating an enemy where none exists."
Mr Keating's intervention will be deeply discomfiting to Labor, which initially hailed the AUKUS announcement an affirmation of "what Labor has been calling for: deeper partnerships with allied and aligned nations to build a region which is stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty". Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Labor would insist on transparency around costs, an assurance that the deal would not lead to a domestic civil nuclear industry and a boost in local jobs.
However, as the diplomatic fallout builds, Senator Wong has become more critical of Mr Morrison's handling of the deal, saying it has been done with "insufficient regard to… how this positions Australia with other partners."
Former prime minister Paul Keating has escalated his attack on the new AUKUS security partnership unveiled by the Morrison government, unleashing fury on his own side for supporting the deal and characterising it as the "surrender" of Australia's control of its military.
In a no-holds-barred statement, the former Labor leader said Prime Minister Scott Morrison has led Australia away from the Asian century and back towards a "jaded and faded Anglosphere", with the current ALP leadership "complicit in [a] historic backslide".
Mr Keating takes particular aim at Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Senator Penny Wong, saying that in her five years in the role she has "by her muted complicity with the government's foreign policy and posture… neutered Labor's traditional stance as to Australia's right to strategic autonomy".
"Instead Wong went along with the stance of [former coalition foreign minister] Julie Bishop and [current foreign minister] Marise Payne … and did it with licence provided by Bill Shorten as leader, and now, Anthony Albanese".
Mr Keating's furious broadside comes amid worsening diplomatic fallout from the AUKUS announcement, which saw Australia dump its $90 billion contract to acquire conventionally powered submarines from France in favour of a new, trilateral "security partnership" with the UK and the US which would provide the Royal Australian Navy with eight nuclear-powered submarines, at an as-yet-unknown cost.
Mr Morrison hailed the pact, unveiled to a surprised world on September 16, as a means of fostering deeper integration of Australian, US and UK security interests in the Indo-Pacific, along with enhanced access to a range of cutting-edge defence technologies and munitions.
But the move infuriated France, which was given only a few hours' notice of the decision, and led to Malaysia and Indonesia publicly worrying about a new arms race in the region.
Mr Keating, who served as a member of the international advisory board of the China Development Bank, (alongside, at one stage, the former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger), has long championed Australia forging its own destiny in Asia.
He accused Mr Morrison of "shopping" Australia's sovereignty by "locking the country and its military forces into the force structure of the United States" through the planned nuclear submarine acquisition.
"It takes a monster level of incompetence to forfeit military control of one's own state", he said, "but this is what Scott Morrison and his government have managed to do"
Mr Keating insisted China presented no military "threat" to Australia, despite the steadily mounting list of punitive trade measures Beijing has levelled against Canberra.
While acknowledging a "more aggressive international posture" on the part of the current Chinese regime, he asserted that "by determinedly casting China as an enemy… [the government is] creating an enemy where none exists."
Mr Keating's intervention will be deeply discomfiting to Labor, which initially hailed the AUKUS announcement an affirmation of "what Labor has been calling for: deeper partnerships with allied and aligned nations to build a region which is stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty". Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Labor would insist on transparency around costs, an assurance that the deal would not lead to a domestic civil nuclear industry and a boost in local jobs.
However, as the diplomatic fallout builds, Senator Wong has become more critical of Mr Morrison's handling of the deal, saying it has been done with "insufficient regard to… how this positions Australia with other partners."
Wakakakakaka…
ReplyDeletePenny Wong, an ex-m'sian of Sabah origin, is just behaving in that usual "more Anglophone than the Anglophone" in perpetuate the fear of the Asia century which Oz would /should embrace for its future well-being!
Perhaps, she learnt well from that "melayu palsu terlampat melayu" indoctrination.
She wan to protek Southern Seas, her ancestral kampung halaman, Sabah. We must be grateful.
DeleteDoes any Anglophone want to RAMPAS our Southern Sea? Or 5000 yo Bullyland?
Wakakakakaka…
DeletePraising a runner to protek Southern Seas, her ancestral kampung halaman, Sabah!
Wakakakaka…
Bet yr last underpants that given a chance any Anglophone want to RAMPAS our Southern Sea!
They dare not now bcoz of the Chinese jaga-ing his backyard!
If Oz had proceed with Frenchie subs wouldn't that be surrendering to Frenchie military?
ReplyDeleteAnd that Frenchie contract...$90 billion for 12 subs....conventional mind you....works out to $7.5 billion per sub.
I think Frenchie was ripping Oz off. Remember this is the same company that Jibby bought our Scorpenes from, and we know what happened there...wink wink...
Blurred mfer ONLY farts with Oz side story!
DeleteBesides how did the foul gaseous of "If Oz had proceed with Frenchie subs wouldn't that be surrendering to Frenchie military" come about?
Using similar logic, ain't the Yank too?
Moreover, hiding between the lines of aukus IS the use of the Oz naval bases for Yankee naval armaments!
On Health Matters (like Covid), listen to the Medical Experts, not the Politicians.
ReplyDeleteOn Military Matters (like procurement of Subs), listen to the Military Experts, not the Politicians, especially recalcitrant ones...ha ha ha..
Aussies need to treat Keating's fury with a great deal of circumspect and suspicion.
ReplyDeleteKeating is very heavily invested in financial and economic links with major China government-owned corporations.
Like Kissinger today, you can never be sure where Keating's loyalty to Australia ends and his loyalty to his personal Bank account overrides it
Do u have proofs of "Keating is very heavily invested in financial and economic links with major China government-owned corporations"??
DeleteThis is a classic ad hominem fart from an old moneyed mfer.
Keating did not bang table when he was PM about Britannia's Nuklear Tests in Maralinga....he did not ask Britannia to clean up any mess...
ReplyDeleteNow over nuklear power (not boms) he so hangat....?
QUOTE
British nuclear tests at Maralinga
British nuclear tests at Maralinga were conducted between 1956 and 1963 at the Maralinga site, part of the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia about 800 kilometres (500 mi) north west of Adelaide. A total of seven nuclear tests were performed, with approximate yields ranging from 1 to 27 kilotons of TNT
UNQUOTE
QUOTE
The United Kingdom conducted 12 major nuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1952 and 1957. These explosions occurred at the Montebello Islands, Emu Field and Maralinga.
UNQUOTE
Paul Keating was then 10 years old, dumbo
DeleteI wrote Paul Keating didn't ask Britannia to clean up when he was PM. Read Properly.
DeleteRemember the underneath meaning of pommie?
DeleteWskakakakaka…
Why my hero Keating is wrong on China and our national security
ReplyDeleteBy Peter Khalil
September 23, 2021
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-my-hero-keating-is-wrong-on-china-and-our-national-security-20210922-p58twd.html
QUOTE
ReplyDeleteLabor MPs lash Paul Keating for China comments
Anthony Galloway
September 23, 2021
Labor MPs have blasted former prime minister Paul Keating for claiming the federal opposition was complicit in the Morrison government’s surrender of its military to the United States as part of a new defence pact to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Mr Keating on Wednesday escalated his attack on the AUKUS defence partnership between Australia, the US and Britain, criticising his own side for promoting a “false representation of China’s foreign policy” by implying that Beijing presented a military threat to Australia.
Mr Keating’s attack on the opposition’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong, who he claimed had “neutered Labor’s traditional stance as to Australia’s right to strategic autonomy” in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, has particularly angered federal MPs on his own side.
In a speech to the United States Studies Centre on Thursday, Senator Wong will warn Beijing is becoming “more assertive, and at times aggressive”, but will also say the debate shouldn’t be reduced to the “two fatalisms” of acquiescing to China or going to war.
Labor MP Anthony Byrne, deputy chair of Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, said Mr Keating had done his party a “great disservice by attacking, in my mind, one of the best Labor parliamentarians to ever grace the floor of the Senate” in Senator Wong.
Former prime minister Paul Keating has criticised his own party for supporting the Morrison government’s new AUKUS agreement.
“Penny has always put the national interest first. And argues a Labor position in a forceful, elegant and nuanced way – something Paul Keating should take note of,” he said.
Mr Byrne said the analysis by Mr Keating was “like looking at life as he wants it to be, not at life as it is”.
“The fact is that we are responding to a different China to the one Keating is trying to display,” he said. “The best thing Paul could do is put the kaleidoscope down, look realistically at what’s happening and put his Montblanc pen away so that he doesn’t trivialise and mock our national security priorities, and actually writes a proper analysis of the existential threat Australia faces in a geopolitical sense.”
UNQUOTE
Blurred mfer, care to interchange all those China related words to US related, WHAT do u get in that out blasts?
DeleteOoop… u only have a one-track mind of China bashing!