Paul Keating statement in full: Angus Taylor has chosen to walk away from the Liberals’ best instincts on immigration

Many people, me included, wished him well in fighting One Nation with a conservatism anchored in principles. How dispiriting is his cowardice Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Liberal party, battling an extreme version of itself – One Nation – has again fallen back to its default political policy: racism. Angus Taylor, announcing a policy at primary odds with an immigrant nation, says a Liberal government under his leadership will adopt Trump ICE-style policies to weed and “boot out” people who fail to adhere to “national values” and who are responsible for the erosion of national culture including the Balkanisation of communities. And, to hammer the point, sitting beside Taylor at his policy launch was Mr Racial Opportunism himself, John Winston Howard, late of anti-Asian migration in 1988 – the picket fence suburban racism of his first round as Liberal leader, and the wilful anti-humanitarianism of his electorally-driven Tampa atrocity of 2001. Angus Taylor, for base political reasons, has elected to walk away from the best instincts of the Liberal party – the party of Robert Menz