Keating whips media, Abbott

Paul Keating popped up for the first time during the election campaign in Melbourne.

Delivering a speech on media privacy at Melbourne Uni, Keating expressed a thinly veiled contempt for tabloid editors, saying there should be proper watchdogs to punish them.

He also advocated for a reform of privacy laws.

Picture: Lateline

His speech was titled 'The Privacy Imperative in the Information Age Free For All' which focused on the way privacy has become a secondary concern to ratings.

Brendan Fevola and Lara Bingle got a mention, as did Pauline Hanson and those fake nude photos.

After attacking the state of the media Keating took aim at Tony Abbott in a post-talk press conference.

He said if he were to campaign against Abbott he would target his economic record.

There were glimpses of the Keating of old but just as he was getting into gear he cut himself abruptly short, exercising his own privacy from the media.

I'm sure it's not the last we'll hear of him.

(Here's the news story for SYN's Below The Line election program.)