Paul Keating 'cut the tag' with America interview

• Report rights infringement
• published: 11 Nov 2016
• views: 343

10/11/2016 PAUL KEATING, FORMER PRIME MINISTER (1991-1996): Thank you, Leigh. LEIGH SALES: With the election of Donald Trump, can Australia continue to depend on the United States alliance, the way that it has? PAUL KEATING: Well, I think, this whole question about our subordination to the United States in a sort of broad policy terms, this society of ours is a better society than the United States, than the society of the United States. I mean, it's more even, it's more fair, we've had a 50 per cent increase in real incomes in the last 20 years, median America has had zero, zero. We've had universal health protection - from the cradle to the grave. We have a retirement income system, with superannuation. We have high participation rates in schools. We don't shoot our children in schools and if they were to be shot, we'd take the guns off the people who shot them. The Americans do not do this. This is a better society than the United States. Therefore the idea we should get around like Uriah Heep like we're some subordinate outfit that has to get a signal from abroad before we think, is of course a complete denial of everything we've created here. We should be thinking the same way in foreign policy terms and in foreign policy terms, we're getting the message from President-Elect Donald Trump that he's a big power guy and he's not for alliances, like, wink, wink, you may be on your own. LEIGH SALES: So how do we respond to that? PAUL KEATING: You may be on your own. LEIGH SALES: How do we respond to that? PAUL KEATING: Like grown-ups, like we should have always responded all the years through. We've got into this almost sort of crazy position now where the American alliance, instead of simply being a treaty, where the United States is on obliged to consult with us in the event of adverse strategic circumstances, it has now taken on a reverential, sacramental quality. It's like a sacrament. I'm not talking about simply the government; I'm talking about some people on the Labor side as well. There's a view, there was a thing called the Australian-American dialogue, which by the way I never attended, which is a sort of a cult thing that's gone on for years and I don't know what the Americans put in the drinking water, but whenever the Australians come back, they're all bowing and scraping and going on. I mean what we have to do is make our way in Asia ourselves with an independent foreign policy. LEIGH SALES: So give me some examples of how you would practically do that? PAUL KEATING: Well, the alliance still exists. It's a treaty. We get intelligence from it. Under the alliance we have access to better technology, defence technology, than a comparable state would have. But our future is basically in the region around us, is in South-East Asia and what we should be thinking about is an independent policy which does worry about Indonesia, that does worry about South-East Asia. I mean I've suggested for instance, we should join ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations. In other words, we'd actually be more useful to the United States, by the way, if we were doing these things. And of course, that puts us in some point of independence with the Chinese. I mean, Beijing is 11 flying hours from Australia, from our capital cities, 11 flying hours. I mean, there's no geo-strategic problems with China in this respect. But you know, we're being hounded on by American Admirals to run ships through the South China Sea and create all these sort of issues, whereas what President-Elect Trump is telling us, you can see from Trump's style, he's a big power guy. He's brought NATO into question. He said we don't want, we barely get along with the Chinese. Now, just take that idea. The US is better to get along with the Chinese. What does this this mean? It means there will not be an attempted or maintained strategic identity by the United States over China in the Western Pacific Ocean. Now if that is the case, this opens up the whole foreign policy opportunity but instead of that, we had the Prime Minister almost saying prayers to the alliance yesterday, and, and, and the Foreign Minister, you know, as if nothing has changed. More at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2016/s4572910.htm

Paul Keating 'cut the tag' with America interview

• Report rights infringement
• published: 11 Nov 2016
• views: 343

10/11/2016 PAUL KEATING, FORMER PRIME MINISTER (1991-1996): Thank you, Leigh. LEIGH SALES: With the election of Donald Trump, can Australia continue to depend on the United States alliance, the way that it has? PAUL KEATING: Well, I think, this whole question about our subordination to the United States in a sort of broad policy terms, this society of ours is a better society than the United States, than the society of the United States. I mean, it's more even, it's more fair, we've had a 50 per cent increase in real incomes in the last 20 years, median America has had zero, zero. We've had universal health protection - from the cradle to the grave. We have a retirement income system, with superannuation. We have high participation rates in schools. We don't shoot our children in schools and if they were to be shot, we'd take the guns off the people who shot them. The Americans do not do this. This is a better society than the United States. Therefore the idea we should get around like Uriah Heep like we're some subordinate outfit that has to get a signal from abroad before we think, is of course a complete denial of everything we've created here. We should be thinking the same way in foreign policy terms and in foreign policy terms, we're getting the message from President-Elect Donald Trump that he's a big power guy and he's not for alliances, like, wink, wink, you may be on your own. LEIGH SALES: So how do we respond to that? PAUL KEATING: You may be on your own. LEIGH SALES: How do we respond to that? PAUL KEATING: Like grown-ups, like we should have always responded all the years through. We've got into this almost sort of crazy position now where the American alliance, instead of simply being a treaty, where the United States is on obliged to consult with us in the event of adverse strategic circumstances, it has now taken on a reverential, sacramental quality. It's like a sacrament. I'm not talking about simply the government; I'm talking about some people on the Labor side as well. There's a view, there was a thing called the Australian-American dialogue, which by the way I never attended, which is a sort of a cult thing that's gone on for years and I don't know what the Americans put in the drinking water, but whenever the Australians come back, they're all bowing and scraping and going on. I mean what we have to do is make our way in Asia ourselves with an independent foreign policy. LEIGH SALES: So give me some examples of how you would practically do that? PAUL KEATING: Well, the alliance still exists. It's a treaty. We get intelligence from it. Under the alliance we have access to better technology, defence technology, than a comparable state would have. But our future is basically in the region around us, is in South-East Asia and what we should be thinking about is an independent policy which does worry about Indonesia, that does worry about South-East Asia. I mean I've suggested for instance, we should join ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations. In other words, we'd actually be more useful to the United States, by the way, if we were doing these things. And of course, that puts us in some point of independence with the Chinese. I mean, Beijing is 11 flying hours from Australia, from our capital cities, 11 flying hours. I mean, there's no geo-strategic problems with China in this respect. But you know, we're being hounded on by American Admirals to run ships through the South China Sea and create all these sort of issues, whereas what President-Elect Trump is telling us, you can see from Trump's style, he's a big power guy. He's brought NATO into question. He said we don't want, we barely get along with the Chinese. Now, just take that idea. The US is better to get along with the Chinese. What does this this mean? It means there will not be an attempted or maintained strategic identity by the United States over China in the Western Pacific Ocean. Now if that is the case, this opens up the whole foreign policy opportunity but instead of that, we had the Prime Minister almost saying prayers to the alliance yesterday, and, and, and the Foreign Minister, you know, as if nothing has changed. More at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2016/s4572910.htm