Former prime minister Paul Keating hits out at Nine Entertainment’s newspapers for China threat stories

Paul Keating has slammed Nine newspapers for running a series of stories claiming the nation faced the threat of war with China within the next three years.

Paul Keating has criticised the stories for relying on three regular anti-China commentators. Picture: La Trobe

Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has lambasted Nine Entertainment’s two major mastheads for running front page articles claiming the nation has a real threat of war with China within the next three years.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald splashed front page articles across Tuesday’s print mastheads with the headlines, “Australia ‘must prepare’ for threat of China war” and “Red alert: War risk exposed”, that drew the ire of the former Labor leader who berated the media company, the journalists and the editors for running the content.

“Today’s Sydney Morning Herald and Age front page stories on Australia’s supposed war risk with China represents the most egregious and provocative news presentation of any newspaper I have witnessed in over fifty years of active public life,” Mr Keating said in a statement.

“It is way worse than the illustrated sampans shown to be coming from China in the build up to the war in Vietnam in the 1960s.”

The front page stories, written by journalists Peter Hartcher and Matthew Knott, state that it “doesn’t pretend to be definitive” however goes on to say, “it is independent of the government and fully on the record”.

It also included a three-page spread inside the two publications and a red-coloured map of China with fighter jets illustrated to be leaving the country.

In the stories it explained that, “Australia’s defence force is woefully unprepared, the population complacent and the nation’s political leaders unwilling to address the dire threats we face”.

It also went on to explain that, “the most likely flashpoint is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan that draws China into war with the United States and its closest allies”.

The story said that was the “verdict of a panel of five experts” assembled for the newspaper in what was dubbed, the “Red Alert” series, and described as “an in-depth examination of the most pressing national security challenges facing Australia”.

The former Labor leader – who was prime minister from 1991 to 1996 – went on to take aim of Hartcher, Nine’s political editor and international editor of The SMH and The Age, describing him as “the arch villain” and “provocateur and warmonger” and he criticised “his compliant editors”.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating said the stories were based on the, “thinness of the narrative”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Mr Keating has been an outspoken supporter of China at a time when there has been bipartisan government policy that has been more critical towards Beijing.

The stories were compiled after the reporters brought together the five experts whom they described as the following: technologist Alan Finkel, military strategist Mick Ryan, geopolitics guru Lavina Lee, defence policy expert Peter Jennings and cyber sage Lesley Seebeck to gauge their views.

Mr Keating said the stories were based on the, “thinness of the narrative is built around five supposed ‘experts’, three of whom are regular anti-China commentators – each firmly and long identified with the strategic interests of the United States”.

“Locking five people up in a room for a day asking for an articulation of their views or biases on China’s attitude to Australia – does not represent either revelation or responsible journalism”.
The stories on Nine’s news websites were prominent on Tuesday including sitting under the “editor’s picks”.

The Red Alert series will continue to roll out over the coming days.

Tory Maguire, executive editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, dismissed Mr Keating’s comments and praised Hartcher and Knott for their reporting.

“Mr Keating has indulged in personal slurs against the journalists at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age instead of engaging in the substance of their reporting,” she said in a statement.

“It’s not a useful contribution from someone well placed to have a meaningful impact on the conversation about our readiness to protect and defend Australia.

“We note he had nothing to say when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky News Australia also recently examined the threat of conflict with China and our nation’s preparedness.”