In a striking political intervention, Paul Keating appears to have challenged Treasurer Jim Chalmers to dismiss a $20 billion offer by Canadian private equity giant Brookfield to purchase Origin Energy.

Late last year, Dr Chalmers was poised to review Brookfield's proposal on the basis of foreign investment and competition before it was ultimately thwarted by shareholders, led by AustralianSuper, absolving the Treasurer from making a decisive judgement.

Former PM Paul Keating's forceful disapproval was communicated through an email (PDF) to Dr Chalmers on November 29, cautioning him of the “tawdry and opportunist attempted takeover of Origin Energy – the country's largest energy retailer/generator,”.

Keating said he was concerned about Brookfield's bid, saying; “The Brookfield proposition is nothing but a scam to siphon out of Australia billions of renewable energy profits to a Canadian private equity fund.”

Keating further argued for the national significance of Origin Energy in Australia's energy transition, suggesting that superannuation funds, with their “bucket loads of social capital”, are better placed to own such critical assets. 

Drawing parallels to a past foreign takeover attempt, he referenced the thwarted bid by Marius Kloppers and BHP for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, urging the government to have the Foreign Investment Review Board reject Brookfield's proposal on national interest grounds.

Keating's intervention appears to have influenced the blocking of the takeover by major shareholder AustralianSuper, with former Keating political adviser Don Russell at its helm. 

The incident plays into an ongoing debate over the role of superannuation funds in investing in Australia's transition to net-zero emissions by 2050, a vision shared by Keating and Dr Chalmers.