Penny Wong will dismiss Paul Keating’s claim that the military has taken over foreign policy in Australia, as she insists the defence department and diplomats are working together to “keep the peace”.
In a speech on Monday, the foreign affairs minister will say countries across the Indo-Pacific region want to “choose their own destiny” and not have the rules “dictated by a single major power to suit its own interests”.
Wong will push back at Keating’s criticism of the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine program after the former Labor prime minister labelled it “the worst deal in all history”.
The foreign affairs minister will tell the National Press Club that the government wants to “avert war and maintain peace”. She will say Australia and its partners must have strong defence capabilities to “change the calculus for any potential aggressor”.
“We must ensure that no state will ever conclude that the benefits of conflict outweigh the risks,” Wong will say, according to extracts released in advance.
“This is fundamental to assuring the safety and security of our nation and our people.”
While the extracts do not directly name Keating, they appear designed to counter many of his arguments, including that the military now dominates foreign policy.
Wong will say foreign and defence policies are both “essential and interdependent parts of how we make Australia stronger and more influential in the world”.
“Together, they make it harder for states to coerce other states against their interests through force or the threatened use of force,” she will say.
Keating had ridiculed Wong for “running around the Pacific islands with a lei around [her] neck handing out money”. He had argued that “foreign policy is what you do with the great powers, what you do with China, what you do with the United States”.
But Wong will take issue with “many commentators and strategists” who see events in the Indo-Pacific region “simply in terms of great powers competing for primacy”.
“They love a binary,” the minister will say. “And the appeal of a binary is obvious: simple, clear choices; black and white.
“But viewing the future of the region in terms simply of great powers competing for primacy means countries’ own national interests can fall out of focus.”
Wong, who has travelled extensively across the Pacific and south-east Asia since being sworn in as foreign minister 11 months ago, says countries must be able to make their own choices while “respecting but not deferring to others”. The goal, she says, is for a region “where no country dominates and no country is dominated”.
Strategic competition “is not merely about who is top dog” but is “actually about the character of the region”, Wong argues.
She says economic interdependence must not be “misused for political and strategic ends” – an apparent reference to Beijing’s trade actions against a range of Australian export sectors at the height of the 2020 diplomatic rupture.
Wong will argue Australia must “harness all elements of our national power to advance our interests, when the implications of unchecked strategic competition in our region are grave”.
“It’s clear to me from my travels throughout the region that countries don’t want to live in a closed, hierarchical region where the rules are dictated by a single major power to suit its own interests,” Wong will say.
“It is also clear that countries want a region that is peaceful and stable. And that means sufficient balance to deter aggression and coercion – balance to which more players, including Australia, must contribute if it is to be durable.”
While the federal Labor caucus is largely united in support of Aukus, a number of rank-and-file members and unions who hold concerns have been emboldened by Keating’s intervention.
Government insiders have privately conceded they need to better explain how the submarine acquisition fits in with broader diplomatic efforts.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, flew out of Australia on Sunday bound for Vietnam and the Philippines where he will focus on “strengthening and diversifying our economic relationships”.
