March 21, 2024
PETER STEFANOVIC: Let's go to Canberra. Joining us live is the shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. James, good to see you. Thanks for your time as always. So when Wang Yi trumpets a closer relationship between China and Australia, then visits Paul Keating, who is an irritant for the Labor government at the moment, I'm sure. Isn't that counterproductive?
JAMES PATERSON: Well Pete, describing that as an irritant is putting it mildly. Paul Keating is Australia's most prominent critic of AUKUS. Paul Keating is Australia's most prominent advocate of a closer relationship with China. He is the most prominent defender of the Chinese government when it comes to their human rights abuses and other activities. And for him to agree to meet with Wang Yi and for the Chinese government to make a request for him to meet with Wang Yi, is a calculated humiliation of the government here in Canberra, because every time Paul Keating says what he says, it causes total internal grief for this government, it fires up their branch members and their supporters in the community. And he has been incredibly unprofessional and undiplomatic in the way in which he has commented about the Foreign Minister in particular. But not just the foreign minister, our dedicated, professional, impartial public servants in the intelligence community as well. And so, this is, make no mistake, something which is deeply unwelcome here in Canberra in the Labor Party, but none of them have had the courage to say that publicly. None of them have the courage to explain why they don't think it's in the national interest for Paul Keating to be running down our country with a foreign dignitary while they're visiting.
STEFANOVIC: So what, if anything of note, even comes out of it? Or is it just a cunning ploy to cause trouble?
PATERSON: I think there's two reasons why the Chinese government would want this meeting to take place. The first is they are signaling back to home. There's no question that they're showing, "we've got friends in Australia in high places. And don't worry,
Beijing, we are supported in Australia." But the other thing they're doing is they're signaling here to Australia. They're saying even at your highest levels, amongst your exalted former leaders, we've got friends. And don't forget that. And don't forget that we can take advantage of that when we choose to, to cause you grief internally, to put pressure on you and to undermine your national projects like AUKUS. And so it is a very calculated move. It's not the act of a friendly nation, it's the act of a nation which is trying to, as it has for many years, coerce and pressure us to do things which are against our national interests and consistent with theirs. And what we should expect of our government is that we robustly stand up for ourselves in those circumstances, that we unapologetically assert our interests and our values. And unfortunately, it's very rare we get that from this government because we know they're so weak when it comes to national security.
STEFANOVIC: So a good thing perhaps then, that we've got the AUKMIN talks, that are happening today, as we're seeing these pictures come into us of Richard Marles meeting his, he's British counterpart, the Defence Secretary. Over AUKUS.
PATERSON: You're right, Pete, it is terrific to have our British friends here, particularly the Foreign Secretary, David Cameron. And the Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, they are very welcome visitors in Australia and very frequent visitors in Australia. And we have to work even more closely with the United Kingdom than we ever have before in the age of AUKUS and in the age of strategic competition. Although we are a long way away our values and our history unite us and our interests are continuing to converge, we have the same interests in Europe when it comes to Russia's war in Ukraine, and we have the same interests in the Indo-Pacific in terms of preserving the peaceful status quo in the Taiwan Straits, in the South China Sea, in the East China Sea and elsewhere.
STEFANOVIC: James, do you support Kevin Rudd staying on as a US ambassador should Trump win in November?
PATERSON: I want Kevin Rudd to succeed as Australia's ambassador to Washington. It is in our national interest that he does well for our country. And in fact, I visited Kevin in DC as ambassador. And what I observed that he is diligently applying himself to that task. He's obviously a capable person. Unfortunately, he was also, prior to accepting this role, a prominent political commentator in the United States from his position as president of the Asia Society. And he said some very undiplomatic things about former President Trump. Now, that's his right as an Australian living in America or an Australian living here to say whatever he likes. But if you're going to be an ambassador to a country or you anticipate you might be, you have to be a bit more circumspect about what you say. And let's remember, Kevin Rudd was Anthony Albanese’s captain's pick for this job, over the objections of other ministers in the government, including, apparently, Penny Wong, which is why the appointment took so long and they had to extend Arthur Sinodinos in the role. And so if he does have to come home because he can't work with the Trump administration, that will reflect on one person and one person only, and that's Anthony Albanese and his poor judgement.
STEFANOVIC: Okay. James Paterson, appreciate your time. We got to go but, we will talk to you again soon.
ENDS
