Paul Keating takes aim at former RSL boss defence spending warning

Paul Keating has derided the outgoing RSL President as a “dope” and accused him of abusing the “the quiet solemnity of Remembrance Day” for a controversial speech criticising Australia’s low defence spending.

The former Labor Prime Minister and Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh both rebuked retired Major General Greg Melick after he criticised Australia’s “complacency” on future conflicts in his speech at the Australian War Memorial on Tuesday.

However, RSL President Peter Tinley backed Major General Melick, saying he had a long and enduring track record of serving his country and was “entitled to have a last reflection on where the country’s going”.

“Nothing Greg Melick said should be taken with offence,” he told the Nightly.

“It was said with the point of view of a patriot who is deeply concerned about the geostrategic challenges in our region, that’s why we’re doing AUKUS.

“It came from a place of deep love for his country and after decades of service, both in and out of uniform.”

Mr Keating issued a statement on Wednesday saying that it “beggars belief” that Mr Melick “abused the quiet solemnity of Remembrance Day to lecture and berate the Albanese government on its defence policy”.

“Worse, he carelessly flung around the tired epithet of ‘appeasement’ at the Prime Minister and his Ministers,” the statement said.

During his Remembrance Day speech in front of the Governor General and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Major General Melick claimed that Australia’s current defence spending levels were not enough compared to the threat the nation faces.

“Despite the fact that this nation has been involved in wars more often than not since Federation, I fear we remain complacent,” Major General Melick said on Tuesday.

“Our Defence Minister is keenly aware of the issues facing his portfolio, so the challenge before him is to convince his colleagues to rebalance our priorities — otherwise in future Remembrance Day ceremonies we may well regret the conflict we didn’t deter and remember those who we demanded to protect us without the necessary wherewithal.”

“For many years, the RSL’s defence and security committee has been agitating, without apparent success, on the need to ensure that we bolster our defence spending and significantly increase our reserves, especially in fuel and ammunition, to best equip our dedicated servicemen and women before we send them into harm’s way.”

Mr Keating described the retired Major General Melick’s comments as “reprehensible” and accused him of attempting to “sow discord in Cabinet by suggesting that only the Defence Minister is sufficiently seized of the strategic situation”.

“We can thank our lucky stars that the RSL does not have a seat at the Cabinet table,” Mr Keating said.

“Melick’s remarks, far from being some kind of clarion call to the battlefield, show only how craven he is to the assumption that China poses a direct military threat to Australia.”

“He wants the public to believe that we have only minutes to midnight before we witness an attack on our shores. Notwithstanding that the Chinese have never, ever threatened us.”

“Fundamentally, Melick wants to drag us into a military exchange with the Chinese, a military super-power. Ignoring the fact that the Chinese have no intention of attacking Australia and never have had.”

“His utterances are simply the strategic jottings of a dope,” the former PM said.

Speaking overnight in London, Matt Keogh said the speech was “probably not the thing that we should be focusing on a day like Remembrance Day,” he told reporters following a Remembrance Day event in Hyde Park.

“We’ve done the work in terms of the Defence Strategic Review, and announcing the National Defence Strategy, and making sure that there are regular updates to our investment programming capability, making sure that we are delivering on a clear strategy for defence”.

“And I encourage everyone, including the former president of the National RSL, to make sure that they’re across all of those documents and what the Government is actually doing.”

But shadow defence minister Angus Taylor has offered support to Major General Melick arguing “right now, our defence spending simply doesn’t match the scale of the challenges we face”.

“Days like Remembrance Day remind us of the sacrifices made to defend our freedoms, and of the importance of ensuring our Defence Force has the resources it needs to keep Australia safe,” Mr Taylor added.