Bill Shorten dismisses Paul Keating’s concern about security ‘nutters’

Bill Shorten has dismissed concerns raised by former Labor prime minister Paul Keating about “nutters” running Australia’s security agencies, saying his team will continue to take the advice of “the people who help keep Australians safe”.

The Opposition Leader was quizzed about his national security plans in Sydney this morning after Mr Keating called for a “clean out” of the intelligence agencies to reset relations with China and predicted major changes in how foreign policy is developed if Labor is elected.

Responding to Mr Keating’s suggestions that the nation’s spy chiefs had “gone berko” over the threat of Chinese influence and interference in Australia, Mr Shorten said he did not share Mr Keating’s concerns.

He said there was a debate to be had about whether the rise of China solely through the prism of strategic risk, but Labor would put Australia’s interest first.

“Paul Keating is an elder statesman of Australian politics, he’s never been shy of saying what he thinks,” Mr Shorten said.

“I do not share that view. I thought some of his other characterisations were perhaps more pertinent, but not on national security.”

Mr Shorten made the comments after a visit to Nepean Hospital in the hotly contested marginal seat of Lindsay, where he spoke to a pancreatic cancer patient about Labor’s big-ticket promise to make cancer treatment more accessible.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Mr Keating's comments were disappointing.

"Our security agencies have prevented 15 terrorist attacks in Australia... So, for what the Labor Party calls a Labor legend to go out there and attack the credibility of our security agencies that have been saving lives in this country, I think is disappointing," Mr Morrison said.

"I think that should be disowned and I think the leader of the Labor Party, Bill Shorten, should behaving something to say about that in denouncing what Paul Keating had to say. "

Mr Morrison also called for Mr Shorten to reveal who he would name Home Affairs Minister should he win the election.

"Given that national security is the first responsibility of any national government, I think it is only fair that not only does Australians know that what the prices they will have to pay for a Shorten government, but they should know who is actually going to be in charge as a minister for national security in a Shorten government and they haven't answered that," Mr Morrison said.