Anthony Albanese says he would likely have signed up to Aukus if he had been PM at the time

Anthony Albanese says Aukus is about more than nuclear submarines and is a pact between nations, not politicians. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Anthony Albanese says it is likely he would have pursued the Aukus agreement had Labor been in power during the Morrison era because the bonds between the three nations are enduring, and defence officials would have supplied the same advice.

The upbeat assessment during an interview with the Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast pits Albanese against Paul Keating, who has urged Labor to walk away from the controversial agreement with the US and Britain. Keating argues the plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines will see Australia’s strategic sovereignty “outsourced to another state” – a critique echoed by the former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.