Bill Shorten won't be denouncing Paul Keating, but nor does the current Labor leader share his predecessor's views that the "nutters are in charge" of Australia's foreign policy.
Mr Keating, who was Labor prime minister between 1991 and 1996, has called for spy chiefs to be sacked in a bid to improve relations with China, saying he would "clean them out".
"When the security agencies are running foreign policy, the nutters are in charge," he told the ABC.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for Mr Shorten to denounce Mr Keating's comments, saying the agencies had prevented 15 terrorist attacks in Australia.
"For what the Labor Party calls a Labor legend to go out there and attack the credibility of our security agencies that have been saving lives in this country, I think is very disappointing," he told reporters in Nowra on the NSW south coast on Monday.
"I think that should be disowned and I think the leader of the Labor Party, Bill Shorten, should be having something to say about that in denouncing what Paul Keating had to say."
But Mr Shorten said he would not.
"Not a hope that I'll disown Paul Keating," he told ABC's Q&A late on Monday night.
"He's an elder statesman of Australian politics. He's a grown-up. And in my party you're allowed to have an opinion.
"But on that particular view, I don't agree with him."
Earlier, deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said there would "absolutely not" be a full-scale clean-out under a Shorten government.
She said Mr Keating did not run Labor policy, noting the opposition valued regular briefings it receives from agencies.
