Energy minister Chris Bowen has defended the former Labor prime minister’s plans to meet with China’s Wang Yi, saying it is ‘singularly unsurprising’ that a foreign minister would seek out a meeting with a former PM. ‘Former prime minister Keating is deeply respected across Asia as the man who first pointed out that Australia would seek its security in Asia, not from Asia,’ Bowen said The Guardian
Tag: Paul Keating
Paul Keating says The Australian should be ‘contemptuously ignored’ ahead of Wang Yi meeting
Paul Keating has declared that The Australian newspaper should be “contemptuously ignored” as the former Labor prime minister hit back at criticism of his plans to meet with China’s visiting foreign minister. Keating, an outspoken opponent of the Australian government’s plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, also accused News Corp’s national broadsheet of being “trenchantly anti-Chinese”. Keating levelled the criticism one year after he accused rival papers the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age of “the most egregious and provocative news presentation” in five decades for their “red alert” series about…
Australia news live: Paul Keating’s blast at cabinet over Aukus revealed; Nazi symbols ban
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Paul Keating sent explosive email to Labor cabinet two hours before attack on Aukus, FOI documents reveal
At 10.45am on Wednesday 15 March, an explosive email landed in the inboxes of all of Anthony Albanese’s cabinet ministers. “Dear cabinet colleagues,” wrote Paul Keating, Labor luminary turned chief Aukus critic. “My views will not please the prime minister, the foreign minister nor the defence minister but the country is entitled to a rationale for such a radical and dangerous policy.” The purpose of the email was to forewarn ministers that he would be tipping a bucket on them – and the nuclear-powered submarine plan they had endorsed –…
Penny Wong and Paul Keating spar as minister warns against ‘frenzied’ Taiwan war speculation
Penny Wong has warned politicians and media against playing “the most dangerous of parlour games” by adding to “frenzied” speculation about a war over Taiwan. The Australian foreign affairs minister said on Monday that such a conflict would be “catastrophic for all” and there would be “no real winners” – but the warning was quickly overshadowed by a fresh war of words with Paul Keating. Wong hit back at the former Labor prime minister, who ridiculed the minister for “running around the Pacific islands with a lei around [her] neck…
Paul Keating labels Aukus submarine pact ‘worst deal in all history’ in attack on Albanese government
Paul Keating has labelled the $368bn Aukus nuclear submarine plan as the “worst deal in all history” and “the worst international decision” by a Labor government since Billy Hughes tried to introduce conscription. The former Labor prime minister launched an extraordinary broadside against the Albanese government at the National Press Club on Wednesday, blasting the “incompetence” of Labor backing the decision to sign up to Aukus while in opposition and when it had “no mandate” to do so. Keating also singled out the defence and foreign affairs ministers, Richard Marles…
‘Only one is paying. Our bloke’: Paul Keating attacks Labor leadership over Aukus deal – video
Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating savages his own party for signing up to the Aukus submarine deal. Keating calls the Aukus press event held in the US with Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak ‘kabuki theatre’. The former PM says one of the ‘principle problems’ of the deal is that ‘defence has overtaken foreign policy’. He goes on to attack the foreign minister, Penny Wong, saying, ‘running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy’…
Paul Keating blasts Age and SMH for ‘provocative’ China war story
The former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has accused two of the country’s biggest newspapers of “the most egregious and provocative news presentation” in five decades, after they published front-page stories warning the country faced war with China within three years. The former Labor leader, who has long argued Australia should not be drawn into a war over the status of democratically governed Taiwan, took aim at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age on Tuesday. The papers published a special report based on assessments of five national security experts…
Former PM Paul Keating says Australia ‘has lost its way’ – video
Former prime minister Paul Keating has told the National Press Club that Australia ‘is now very much at odds with its geography and it has lost its way.’ The former Labor PM said Australia must deal more productively with China and criticised the current government for looking for its ‘security from Asia rather than in Asia’. Keating also called the federal government’s planned submarine project under Aukus ‘like throwing a handful of toothpicks at the mountain’ The Guardian