Foreign Minister Penny Wong has played down personal criticisms levelled against her by former prime minister Paul Keating over her role in AUKUS.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Senator Wong was in Adelaide talking about job opportunities around Tuesday's trilateral nuclear submarine deal with the United Kingdom and the USA.
"I'm not going to get into the personal issues," she said.
"Look, I'm interested in doing this job to the best of my ability with my colleagues, to assure the prosperity and the security of the country."
Mr Keating made a searing attack on the $368 billion deal at the National Press Club, describing it as Labor's "worst international decision" since WWI conscription.
The Labor statesman labelled both the Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Senator Wong as "unwise ministers".
He accused Senator Wong of focusing on the smaller regional issues in the Pacific Islands instead of engaging directly with world powers like China.
"Let me just make this point. Running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy," Mr Keating said.
"It's a consular task. Foreign policy is what you do with the great powers. What you do with China. What you do with the United States.
"This government, the Albanese government, does not employ foreign policy."
But Senator Wong said his views "in substance" belonged to another time.
READ MORE:
"We don't face the region of 30 years ago. We face the region of today and we have to work to ensure the region we want for the future," she said.
"We know there's been unprecedented military build up in our region. We can't wish that away. And we also know that has an effect on the stability of the region in which Australia lives.
"[This] is about ensuring Australia's security and recognising that security is best delivered in a region which is stable, prosperous, secure, and respectful of sovereignty."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Mr Keating was "entitled to put his views out in public" but they were "not views I agree with".
"Paul Keating was a great treasurer, a great prime minister. He has my respect, and I have no intention of engaging in a public argument with Paul Keating," Mr Albanese said.
"But my responsibility in 2023 is to give Australia the leadership that they need now, not what they might have needed in the 1990s and I am determined to make sure that we do just that."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also weighed-in, saying the circumstances in the region had "changed dramatically" since Mr Keating was in government 30 years ago.
"I think every Australian except Paul Keating gets that," Mr Dutton said.
"And you just can't be blind to the intelligence, to what it is saying, and not act on it. I think that would be negligent.
"We want to see peace prevail in our region. We want stability. We want our very important trading partners to continue to have that relationship with us."
