Kevin Rudd says we’re ignoring our biggest problem at home

He’s been out of the spotlight for a while now, but that hasn’t stopped former prime minister Kevin Rudd from issuing a dire warning to the government.

Mr Rudd appeared on the 7:30 report last night where he accused Malcolm Turnbull of ignoring one of the biggest threats in our own backyard.

While most people would argue that Australia has a number of big issues to worry about right now, when asked by host Leigh Sales, Mr Rudd gave a very blunt response.

“I will give you three: North Korea, North Korea and North Korea,” he said.

“We’re on a technical trajectory. It’s to do with North Korean technical capabilities in terms of missile sophistication, missile range, the availability of nuclear material and the ability to militarise that into a warhead.”

He went on to say their armament was escalating “on a very rapid timescale” and it was time Australia to open its eyes.

With many saying Mr Rudd is one of the country’s best foreign affairs experts in politics, should Malcolm Turnbull pay attention to him?

“… The number one priority in terms of US-China relations, leaving everything to one
side, is to reach agreement strategically between the President of China and the President-Elect of the US into how this can be arrested,” he said.

Failing to do that, he warned: “The alternatives are too horrible to talk about.”

While Australia certainly has a few big issues to worry about, it’s not often that North Korea is named in the mix.

So is this an overreaction or does he have a point? Many are arguing we have enough things to worry about at home before we go trying to solve problems around the world.

Others, however, say we should pay attention to what Mr Rudd is saying he risk heading into another war.

What do you think? Is Kevin Rudd right here? Or does he have our priorities wrong?