Picture: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

What the hell is Paul Keating doing having a very public “private meeting” with an official of the Chinese Communist Government?

Surely, he realises that they are playing him?

Or does he not care?

Mr Keating sits forever on the payroll of the Australian people courtesy of an exceptionally generous Parliamentary pension.

We pay him a very generous wage – said to be in the order of a quarter of a million a year.

Taxpayers will forever pick up the tab to drive him around and fly him places.

We rent him a permanent office.

We let him charge away his expenses and even give him full-time staff.

There’s no retirement plan like it in the real world.

It’s a great deal.

Implied in all that is an expectation that you will continue to do your best for Australia and hopefully continue to provide some service to the country that looks after you.

The question is; does that include giving China a propaganda hit inside its Consulate on our own soil?

Before Mr Keating runs to litigate – when it comes to the rules of a Parliamentary Pension ... there are no rules.

Nowhere are you required to sign-on as a lifelong ambassador for your country.

You can meet who you like, invest in what you want, and strangely even be employed by foreign powers.

You can even do stupid things too ... like allow the Chinese to portray you as a big supporter of what they’re up to.

You can smile and pose for photos with their visiting Foreign Minister acting in a manner you’d sure know is not in Australia’s greatest interests.

You can be used as a propaganda pawn, even if you’re as sharp as Mr Keating likes to think he is.

When he sat down for his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li in the Sydney consulate, surely Mr Keating notice only Chinese state-owned media was invited along to observe?

Australian reporters, TV cameramen and photographers sat outside on the street while the Communist show starring Paul Keating rolled on inside.

You would hope Mr Keating would have risen above his own ego and realised the game he was playing into.

Not a good look.

He played straight into China’s hands.

If only Australians had an employment contract with superannuant former Prime Ministers.

We needed only to include one simple paragraph and right now we’d be ending the whole rotten deal.