Paul Keating ‘has diminished himself’, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese says Paul Keating has diminished himself after the former PM attacked the government’s AUKUS deal and declared China posed no threat to Australia.

Anthony Albanese and Paul Keating.

Anthony Albanese says Paul Keating has diminished himself after the former prime minister attacked the government’s AUKUS deal and declared China posed no threat to Australia.

Mr Keating savaged the Prime Minister’s core national security policy and his political confidants during a televised address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, branding the $368bn submarine pact “the worst deal in all of history”.

Mr Albanese on Thursday said he fundamentally disagreed with Mr Keating’s views on the deal and defended Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, whom Mr Keating singled out for criticism.

The Prime Minister said Mr Marles and Senator Wong would not be shocked by Mr Keating’s comments, but it was “unfortunate” the Labor luminary chose to attack them personally.

“I don’t think that that does anything other than diminish him, frankly, but that’s a decision that he’s made,” he said.

“I fundamentally disagree with his view. And I disagree with his attitude towards the state of the world in 2023.”

Mr Albanese said China had changed its posture towards Australia since Mr Keating was in office and his government would not ignore the authoritarian power’s rapid military expansion.

“The truth is Australia and China have very different political systems and very different values and it is China that has seen the fastest, most significant growth in military expenditure in the post-war period of any nation … that is just a fact,” he said.

Former Labor MP Gary Johns, who served as Mr Keating’s special minister of state, said the former leader had failed to move on from 1990s political thinking and needed to face the realities of the region’s current strategic environment.

“Things are really topsy-turvy at the moment and Paul simply hasn’t pushed the refresh button to catch up,” he said. “The hopes that came with the analyses of the 1980s have all been dashed so we have to change our mindset.

“Everyone else moves on but Paul has failed to.”

Former Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy lashed Mr Keating’s comments as “laughable and embarrassing”, and condemned his criticism of Senator Wong as “nasty”.

“The most laughable and embarrassing thing Paul said at the club yesterday was ‘We’re an island, we don’t have to worry, we don’t have a border with them’. Paul – they’ve invented the internet since you were in government,” Mr Conroy said.

Senator Wong said Mr Keating’s refusal to condemn Beijing’s human rights abuses against ­Uighur communities was “distressing” and urged him to consider the UN’s condemnation of China over its treatment of the marginalised group.

“He may have his views but the government has ours and we’ve raised our concerns about the treatment of Uighurs with the PRC, with China, at all levels,” she said.

“I would say to Mr Keating to consider the evidence that was presented to the UN through the UN report on this matter.”

Nationals MP Keith Pitt called for Jim Chalmers to “hand back his PhD on Paul Keating”, labelling the Treasurer’s doctorate title – earned for a thesis on the Keating legacy – an “embarrassing embellishment”.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek declined to weigh in on the criticisms, calling Mr Keating “one of the closest observers of foreign policy”, and saying she always listened “very carefully to what he's got to say”.