Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy retreats on China warning

Pat Conroy has watered down his ­attacks on China, refusing to repeat his claim that Beijing was trying to dominate the region.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has watered down his ­attacks on China, refusing to ­repeat his claim at Labor’s national conference that Beijing was trying to dominate the region.

Mr Conroy, a Left-faction heavyweight and ally of Anthony Albanese, has also issued a mea culpa for his criticisms of Labor members opposed to AUKUS, linking them to the “Robert Menzies appeasement” of Nazi Germany ahead of World War II.

Mr Conroy singled out Beijing in his address to the conference in Brisbane last week where he warned about a regional “arms race” that necessitated the AUKUS defence pact, pointing to predictions that China would have 21 nuclear powered submarines and 200 major naval vessels by the end of the decade.

He told Labor members on Friday that it was against Australia’s interest to have “one power dominate our region, especially one that breaches international laws”.

But following a response from Chinese officials that urged against bilateral defence agreements “targeting any third party”, Mr Conroy attempted to back-pedal on remarks singling out the major trading partner.

Asked on Monday whether it was his view that China was seeking to dominate the region, Mr Conroy said he would not “go into what other countries are doing”.

“But it’s clear that we’re seeing great strategic competition in our region and it’s appropriate that we respond through increased diplomatic engagement and increasing deterrence in the Australian ­Defence Force,” he told the ABC.

He said his speech on the floor of national conference was simply “making the point the best way of avoiding war is deterrence … complemented by strong diplomatic efforts” and that arguments in favour of appeasement “were not in line with Australia’s interest”.

However, Mr Conroy appeared to express regret over the reading of his speech and was at pains to explain he had not been referring to delegates when he ­accused those opposed to AUKUS of following in the footsteps of Menzies and Neville Chamberlain.

“Those comments were about people outside the conference,” he said.

Mr Conroy would not confirm suspicions from within the party that the speech was ­designed to address the concerns raised by former prime minister Paul Keating, who has called AUKUS the “worst deal in all history”.

And in response to questions from The Australian, a spokeswoman from Mr Keating said the former prime minister “was not part of the conference process and he is certainly not going to be a part of post mortems” following the event.

Mr Conroy said he was levelling his criticism mostly at “protesters outside conference who were arguing for appeasement and I didn’t think that was the course of action we should be pursuing”.

Left- leaning groups including the Labor Environmental Action Network and communist organisation the Fourth Internationalist were some of the most vocal in their opposition to AUKUS and rallied outside the Brisbane Convention Centre.

In an apparent effort to extend the olive branch to Left-leaning unions such as the Electrical Trade Union – one of their fiercest opponents of the nuclear submarines to be delivered under AUKUS – Mr Conroy said he was in discussions to deliver on their other priorities.

“I'm working closely with ­Michael Wright in the Electrical Trades Union on how we increase foreign aid and help increase training of Pacific Islanders in electric trades (and) I work closely with Steve Murphy from the Manufacturing Workers Union on how we build our defence ­industry,” he told ABC.