Penny Wong’s Paul Keating-like speech was nothing but “nonsense” and demonstrates Labor’s weakness on national security, according to Defence Minister Peter Dutton.
It comes after Senator Wong took aim at comments made by Mr Dutton earlier this month where he said it was “inconceivable” that Australia would not back the United States if there was a war over Taiwan.
During an address to the ANU National Security College, the shadow foreign minister said Mr Dutton was “wildly out of step” with long-held Australian foreign policy in terms of relations with Taiwan.
“Today’s speech by Penny Wong could’ve been written by Paul Keating – I thought it was an appalling contribution,” Mr Dutton told Sky News Australia.
“The fact that Penny Wong today has marched away from the spirit of the AUKUS agreement, I think demonstrates that Labor is very weak on national security.”