'Zip': Hanson has no answers for challenges facing Australia, says Rudd

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says One Nation leader Pauline Hanson would have no concept of how to govern Australia and is merely trading off the politics of division.Speaking to 7.30 from London, Mr Rudd gave his views on the rise of Senator Hanson, Australia's AUKUS agreement, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.Not for the first time this year Senator Hanson's One Nation party has seen its primary vote eclipse Labor, this time in a Redbridge poll, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remained preferred PM.Mr Rudd, who is now the global president of US-based think tank the Asia Society, told 7.30 Senator Hanson's act had not changed in all the years she had been in parliament."It's very easy to play the politics of protest," Mr Rudd said."It's very hard to do the grinding business of government, which looks after practical problems of national security ... of the economy and growing it, environmental sustainability ... and delivering basic services for the Australian people, including housing affordability, which has been eating away so badly at people's standard of living over a long period of time."The hard business of government is to come up with practical responses to each of those challenges. "The easy business of politics is simply to act as a protest vector and then lace it and spice it with the politics of race. One nation leader Paiuline Hanson has been enjoying a boost in popularity throughout 2026. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)"That's what Ms Hanson's been doing ever since she emerged in my fair state of Queensland, a quarter of a century ago."Her script hasn't changed. "Ask this question of yourselves. What single answer does she have to any of the list of problems and challenges which I went through before?"Zip, is the answer to that."Concerns about China's naval mightThe former prime minister has long been a student of China. Fluent in Mandarin he was conferred a Doctorate of Philosophy from Oxford in 2022 for his thesis on Chinese President Xi Jinping.As president Mr Xi has overseen China's economic and military evolution but the latter has come with flashpoints.Kevin Rudd did a university thesis on President Xi Jinping at Oxford in 2022. (Reuters: Tingshu Wang)China been involved in a number of incidents at sea, with other Asian nations, in the Indo-Pacific region.Mr Rudd told 7.30 that China has an enhanced and growing submarine fleet, which was one reason he supported Australia acquiring nuclear submarines under the AUKUS agreement."This will be a great addition to the Royal Australian Navy's capabilities set in terms of our ability to maintain Australia's own sovereign interests in the Indo-Pacific," Mr Rudd told 7.30."China now has 60 to 75 submarines of which 15 to 20 are nuclear-powered. And a number in addition to that are ballistic missile submarines that are nuclear-armed."They are currently at size when compared boat-for-boat against the size of the US Pacific submarine fleet."And the Chinese surface fleet is already at some 370 boats, larger than the US surface fleet, of some 290 operational ships as we stand. The Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang was among the Chinese flotilla sailing east of Sydney. (Department of Defence)"So it's important that Australia has its own naval capabilities given the changes to the strategic and military balances, which are occurring within our wider region."While Mr Rudd said he believed Australia is well within its rights to acquire those submarines, not everyone agrees.Earlier this year Victor Gao, the vice-president of the Center for China and Globalisation (CCG), issued Australia a warning, on 7.30, over acquiring the nuclear-powered subs.Victor Gao is the vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation. (ABC News)Mr Rudd said that behaviour was expected but that China itself did not like the AUKUS agreement."Mr Gao is a professional provocateur on the part of the Chinese, let's call it political establishment," Mr Rudd told 7.30."If you look at official statements through the Chinese media and since AUKUS first came into being, obviously the Chinese system doesn't like it because these are formidable assets. "That's why Australia is acquiring them."We need greater naval capabilities in order to sustain our own national interests. And that's where these assets of ours are important additions to Australia's overall defence capabilities."Rudd's Taiwan 2028 theoryMr Rudd has in the past espoused a theory that the year 2028 could see an emboldened Mr Xi finally look to take Taiwan by force.Mr Rudd is uniquely positioned when it comes to understanding both the Chinese and US presidents. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)Mr Rudd said a number of factors come into play: Mr Xi's almost inevitable return to General Secretary of the Communist Party in October 2027, the January 2028 Taiwanese presidential elections and "the robustness of President Trump's posture on deterrence by the United States against China over Taiwan".Mr Xi's own recent language has also played a part.The Chinese leader recently told Mr Trump that this is a very dangerous issue which could result in collision and conflict.Mr Rudd said the choice of words was concerning."That's the first time I've heard Xi Jinping use that sort of absolutely direct language with a US president in the context of a formal bilateral summit," Mr Rudd told 7.30."Xi Jinping is laying down his own markers. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Beijing, in May. (Reuters: Evan Vucci)"President Trump's language in response to that has been criticised in the United States for being less than robust, pointing out that Taiwan was a long way away from the United States."It's both Xi Jinping's statement and Donald Trump's response, which has given rise to further concerns about the maintenance of peace and stability [in Taiwan] through to the end of 28."Asked if anyone knew how Mr Trump would respond to a Chinese move on Taiwan, Mr Rudd said he could not say but that the presence of the United States military in the area was of great importance."What we can observe is the continuing posture of the United States Pacific Command led by Admiral (Camuel) Paparo," he said."These are the folks who are in the front line and they, under Admiral Paparo, every day of the week, every week of the year, are sustaining the posture of US deterrence over Taiwan."The political language will therefore come and go ... but where the actual substance of US deterrence posture lies is in the capabilities set represented by US Pacific Command."Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV