Former PM Paul Keating critiques current leaders and outlines vague ‘Australia in Transition’ framework

Paul Keating explains as never before e BY:PAUL KELLY, EDITOR-AT-LARGE ° From:The Australian e October 22, 2011 12:00AM WITH his panoramic view of world affairs sharper than ever, Paul Keating blames the current global crisis on blunders by European and US leaders and warns that Australia must rediscover the keys to national success. Interviewed in his Sydney office, furnished in a style he calls "the last gasp of revolutionary classicism", Keating's new 600-plus page book sits atop his desk, an insight into his intellectual, aesthetic and political obsessions. What has Keating been doing since he left office in 1996? He has been travelling, speaking and analysing the world and Australia with undiminished intensity suggesting a man operating as prime minister-in-exile. His idea of leadership is more philosophical than ever, more distant from Bob Hawke or John Howard. His focus is the synthesis between beauty and reason and his book encompasses China's currency, the world malaise, Mahler's Symphony No2 and broaching the republic with the Queen. During the interview Keating talks, as never before, about his leadership concept. But he is doing something else: explaining himself to a still puzzled nation. "The great changes in civilisation and society have been wrought by deeply held beliefs and passion rather than by a process of rational deduction," Keating tells me. In retirement, his political inspiration comes from music and beauty, not opinion polls. There are signs he has mellowed. While ruthless with his judgments Keating is keen to support a struggling Labor Party while addressing the source of its strategic demise. "The failure of the Rudd and Gillard administrations is the lack of an over-arching story, the lack of a compelling story," he says when interviewed last week. "I'm happy that Labor took us through this dreadful financial crisis so competently. But they are not in the business of teaching. And governments, to succeed with change, must be in the business of educating the community. “Our Labor governments have failed to conceptualise the changes. We need a framework. "What is the framework? It is ‘Australia in Transition’ strategically and economically. That's the story we have to present. "| think the Australian people are very conscientious. During the 1980s and 1990s we proved they will respond conscientiously to necessary reforms. They mighin't like them but they'll accept them. But reforms have to be presented in a digestible format. "| know that in the age of the internet, opinion and perpetual static it is difficult to get the message over. | accept that. But the big messages have their own momentum. If we get the story of transition right then other things will find their place. “Our problem is what | call shooting-star policies. We have a policy on carbon pricing, on minerals, on boatpeople, but they are not connected up to the big picture about Australia's direction and its transition." HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029560