Keeping Australia in the landmark AUKUS alliance would be a "tragedy for Australia", former prime minister Paul Keating has warned.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The outspoken former Labor leader also trashed Australia's engagement with India, Japan and the US, known as the Quad, calling it "strategic nonsense" and a waste of time.
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to distance himself from Mr Keating's "dangerous remarks", saying they "significantly undermine national security".
In a wide-ranging discussion on Wednesday night, Mr Keating warned world leaders against repeating historical events leading up to the First World War in Europe when France, Russia and Britain entered into an alliance.
The 24th prime minister has long-been critical of the former Coalition government's announcement to enter into a tri-partisan deal with the US and the UK, allowing the sharing of nuclear-powered submarine intelligence.
China also lashed the deal as having the potential to "increase the risk of nuclear proliferation and intensify the arms race".
"It'll be a tragedy for Australia if we keep the AUKUS agreement," Mr Keating said on Wednesday.
"You can have the AUKUS exchange information, that's fine ... but we want to walk away from the Los Angeles class submarine."
The AUKUS agreement is expected to deliver eight nuclear-powered submarines to the country from 2040.
Officials from the three countries have nearly two years to begin the process and allow for considerations following the public announcement in September last year.
Mr Keating said Labor, while in opposition, should have used that time to discuss the deal's greater impact instead of agreeing to honour the AUKUS partnership if it won the election.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"I think we should walk away from the nuclear US nuclear submarine proposition," he said.
"I mean, going to Cornwall [in the United Kingdom] to find our security in Asia - I mean, that's where James Cook and Arthur Philip left 230 years earlier. I mean, do we really need to go back there?"
Australia's increasing reliance on a strategic dialogue forum with the US and regional partners, Japan and India, was also the subject of Mr Keating's ire.
He likened experts and academics who supported the Quad partnership, and India's role in it, as trying to sell "snake oil".
"Could you imagine a flotilla of Indian naval vessels entering the Straits of Malacca and exiting into the South China Sea to fight the Chinese for Western values - the US or Australian values?" Mr Keating said.
"We'll never see this ever - not a chance."
Ms Ley described the former prime minister's comments as "dangerous" and challenged Mr Albanese to dismiss his claims.
"These remarks will be used in a way that hurts our national security interest ... they are the most dangerous remarks that I, in 21 years in parliament, have heard a current or former prime minister make," she said.
"[Mr Albanese] must distance himself from what has been said by his political mentor Paul Keating, and he must do that unequivocally. These remarks need to be unequivocally refuted."
Mr Keating last year described the addition of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia's fleet as throwing "a handful of toothpicks at a mountain".
He also warned the expensive fleet would be out of date by the time they're delivered in the coming decades.
"These submarines were designed in the 1990s. By the time we have half a dozen of them, it will be 2045 or '50, they will be 50 or 60 years old," he said.
"In other words, our new submarines will be old tech - it'd be like buying an old 747 [plane]."
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.