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Greens, Coalition promise to challenge Labor's agenda in the Senate

Greens, Coalition promise to challenge Labor's agenda in the Senate

News.com.au4 days ago
The Greens and the opposition are vowing to pump the breaks on Anthony Albanese's agenda as parliament resumes this week.
The Prime Minister commands a massive 94-seat majority in the House of Representatives, but the Senate is another matter.
Labor will need to work with either the Greens or the Coalition to pass legislation through the chamber – a task far easier said than done.
For many of the Albanese government's more progressive items, such as legislating penalty rates, the Greens are more natural partners, but Senator Nick McKim said on Monday his party would hold Mr Albanese 'to account'.
'The results were pretty clear in the Senate and I wasn't that happy with the PM telling the Senate and the Greens to get out of the way shortly after the election,' Senator McKim told Nine's Today.
'We haven't been put into the Australian parliament to get out of the Prime Minister's way.
'We've been put in there to hold him to account.
'And we do expect him to deliver, and we expect him to engage in some of the really meaningful issues, whether it's climate change, whether it's protecting nature, whether it's the housing crisis in Australia.'
He went on to say the Greens needed 'to see solutions that are commensurate with the scale of the challenges facing the country'.
'We're here to work constructively and cooperatively with Labor,' Senator McKim said.
'We hope that they would take the same approach to us.'
Meanwhile, demoted Liberal senator Jane Hume took a similar line.
She was opposition finance spokeswoman under Peter Dutton and championed some of the Coalition's most controversial policies.
Senator Hume was booted from the frontbench after Labor's federal election landslide decimated the Liberal Party.
Acknowledging the Coalition had 'hit a low point in their primary vote', she pledged to 'work every day' to claw back support.
'We're going to work every day to rebuild trust with the Australian people, to make sure that they know that we're listening to their concerns and responding to them, sticking with our values,' Senator Hume told Sky News.
'Of course, those important values of reward for effort, lower taxes, growing the economy, managing the budget responsibly.
'But at the same time, we have to make sure that this three years we are holding this very bad government to account, because the last three years delivered nothing other than a cost of living crisis where people saw their standard of living go backwards and economic growth stagnating.
'The last thing we need is another talk fest – we need an economic plan.'
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Dire situation in Gaza prompts stronger Australian tone
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Dire situation in Gaza prompts stronger Australian tone

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Albanese says Israel's denial of aid, killing of civilians 'cannot be defended or ignored'
Albanese says Israel's denial of aid, killing of civilians 'cannot be defended or ignored'

SBS Australia

time4 hours ago

  • SBS Australia

Albanese says Israel's denial of aid, killing of civilians 'cannot be defended or ignored'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on Israel to "comply immediately with its obligations under international law", saying its denial of aid and the killing of civilians seeking water and food "cannot be defended or ignored". The statement on the "situation in Gaza", delivered on Friday, is Albanese's strongest language so far on the suffering in the Palestinian enclave, which he called a "humanitarian catastrophe". "The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears," Albanese said. "The position of the Australian government is clear: every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian." "This conflict has stolen far too many innocent lives. Tens of thousands of civilians are dead, children are starving," Albanese said. He said Gaza is "in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe". "Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored," the statement said. Amir Maimon, Israel's ambassador to Australia, criticised the statement, saying: "To condemn Israel for defending itself is wrong." "It deflects attention from the real perpetrators of this horror: Hamas," said Maimon, who added "the international community must stop equivocating and start acting". Albanese said Australia condemned "the terror and brutality" of Hamas and reiterated calls for the immediate release of the remaining hostages it took in the October 7 attack, and continued support of all international efforts for a ceasefire. Humanitarian crisis in Gaza On Wednesday, it was reported 15 people, including a six-week-old baby, starved to death in 24 hours in Gaza, according to doctors, linking this to a wave of hunger that persisted for months. Since Hamas — the political and military group that rules Gaza — attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, sparking the nearly two-year-long war , at least 101 people, including 80 children, have died from hunger, with most fatalities occurring in the last few weeks, according to Palestinian officials. Speaking after the appeal by 111 aid and human rights groups for governments to take action, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made, and that's very clear." "This is because of the blockade," he said. The contentious US-based Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) has been delivering aid to Gaza since May. It bypasses traditional aid channels, including the UN, which says the GHF is neither impartial nor neutral. 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PM reaffirms commitment to two-state solution Albanese's statement on Friday did not reference Macron's announcement that France will recognise Palestinian statehood. However, it reaffirmed the government's position for an Israel-Palestinian two-state solution. "Recognising the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own has long been a bipartisan position in Australia," he said. "The reason a two-state solution remains the goal of the international community is because a just and lasting peace depends upon it," Albanese said. "Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within secure and internationally recognised borders." The prime minister's statement comes in the same week Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined more than 20 of her global counterparts in a joint statement that called for an immediate end to Israel's violence in Gaza and condemned the denial of humanitarian assistance to starving Palestinians. That coincided with the first sitting day of parliament following the May federal election, which was marked by pro-Palestinian protests on the lawns outside who called on the government to take more action against Israel, including imposing sanctions. Some politicians, including Mehreen Faruqi, demanded that too. In a silent protest in the upper house, the Greens senator held a sign that read "Gaza is starving. Words won't feed them. Sanction Israel" during Governor-General Sam Mostyn's address. 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Overnight, Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from the latest ceasefire talks for consultations, with US envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of failing to act in good faith. Hamas said it was surprised by Witkoff's remarks, adding the group's position had been welcomed by mediators and had opened the door to reaching a comprehensive agreement.

Anthony Albanese decries Israel's denial of Gaza aid to starving civilians
Anthony Albanese decries Israel's denial of Gaza aid to starving civilians

7NEWS

time4 hours ago

  • 7NEWS

Anthony Albanese decries Israel's denial of Gaza aid to starving civilians

The prime minister has decried Israel's denial of aid to starving civilians but stopped short of following France's lead in recognising a Palestinian state. In a strongly worded statement, Anthony Albanese said the situation in Gaza, where the vision of emaciated children has become the norm, had 'gone beyond the world's worst fears'. 'Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored,' he said on Friday. 'Every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian.' But the Australian government will not immediately join France in recognising Palestinian statehood after the European nation became the largest Western power to signal it would make the announcement. Albanese instead said recognising the 'legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own' was a bipartisan position. 'Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within internationally-recognised borders,' he said. 'Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza.' Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, have collapsed after the former nation and the US withdrew from talks. Albanese also urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law. With aid being throttled at the border and all entry points to Gaza controlled by Israel, former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk said Australia and the other nations must do more as the situation in Gaza was 'purely a political famine'. 'Nothing about this is natural or organic — it's 100 per cent man-made,' the Refugees International president told ABC Radio. 'We are at — if not past — a tipping point. 'All coping mechanisms that the population use have been exhausted, people are beginning to just drop dead of hunger.' The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operations in May, has been accused of obstructing operations by the United Nations and other aid groups, and putting starving Palestinians in danger. According to Konyndyk, its aid packages were small and insufficient and the foundation's facilities were located far from population centres. 'By design, the people seeking aid from these facilities have to go through areas that are extraordinarily dangerous, that bring them into direct proximity to (Israeli army) forces who have fired on them almost every single day that the GHF has been in operation,' he said. 'The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a farce.' Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies to Gaza in recent months, has previously blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution and accused it of using stolen aid to fund its war effort. While the coalition said it had 'strong concerns' about the worsening humanitarian situation, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was disappointing the prime minister's statement did not place any blame on Hamas. 'Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas,' she said. Israel has enforced a complete embargo on humanitarian aid and medical supplies for almost three months after a ceasefire deal broke down earlier in 2025. In recent months, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, many of whom were shot by the Israeli military, UN sources have found. Israel's military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. Its military campaign was launched after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages. The prime minister also condemned the 'terror and brutality' of Hamas and repeated calls for the release of the remaining hostages.

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