Former Australian deputy prime minister Kim Beazley has warned that One Nation entering government would be a “total disaster” and could leave the country a pariah.
Beazley, 77, said the party’s recent rise in the polls had prompted his concern that Pauline Hanson’s One Nation could secure a role in government at the next election if its support held.
“(It) would be a total disaster for us. We would be risking becoming a pariah,” he said.
The former Labor leader and Australian ambassador to the United States said One Nation’s approach to immigration risked damaging Australia’s standing across the region.
“You see two billion people who, in the course of the immigration debate, have been routinely insulted by One Nation,” he said.
Beazley, who left politics after losing Labor’s federal leadership 20 years ago, added: “We’ve had it. Any country that gets that, has had it.”
Kim Beazley backs AUKUS submarine deal
He also defended Australia’s commitment to the AUKUS security partnership with the UK and US, including plans to acquire up to five American Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.
Beazley said he had tried informally, while serving as defence minister and ambassador, to secure access to the submarines, but was rejected by the US.
“I tried a couple of times informally to get from the Americans and they told me to put it in my pipe and smoke it, that they’re the crown jewels, they’d never let us anywhere near them,” he said.
Australia is due to receive its first submarine in the early 2030s, subject to approval from the US president.
Former prime ministers Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull have criticised the arrangement, with Mr Keating saying Australia should not be “a pair of shoes hanging out of the American backside” and Mr Turnbull describing AUKUS as “a terrible deal”.
Beazley rejected those criticisms, saying the partnership represented “major league security worth trying to get”.
