Albanese plans to recognise Palestine but the timing is crucial
Albanese may have been re-elected with a thumping majority in May, but he is indicating he will continue to exercise a cautious approach to foreign policy, even if this frustrates party loyalists.
Albanese co-founded the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group in the late 1990s, and has consistently argued that an independent Palestinian state needs to sit alongside Israel. Within Labor, Albanese's left faction led the push for recognition of Palestine to be inserted into the party's policy platform, a goal it achieved in 2021. He is increasingly aghast at the way Israel has conducted the conflict in Gaza, including restrictions on the delivery of aid to starving civilians.
There's no doubt Albanese wants to recognise Palestine and intends to do so while he is prime minister. The question is one of timing, and how to ensure any intervention by Australia amounts to more than a controversial, yet ultimately tokenistic, gesture.
'Is the time right now? Are we about to imminently do that? No, we are not,' Albanese told the ABC's Insiders on Sunday when asked about recognition of Palestine.
Loading
Foreign Minister Penny Wong put the issue up in lights in April 2024, when she said that ' the international community is now considering the question of Palestinian statehood as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution'.
'There are always those who claim recognition is rewarding an enemy,' she said. 'This is wrong.'
Wong was laying the intellectual foundations for nations like Australia to recognise Palestine before any final peace settlement with Israel. Fifteen months later, though, the government still does not officially recognise Palestine as a state.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
17 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
US Prime Minister Keir Starmer expected to push US President Donald Trump on Gaza ceasefire during upcoming talks
US President Donald Trump will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in Scotland for talks expected to range from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza. Trump, riding high after announcing a huge trade agreement with the European Union late on Sunday, said he expected Starmer would also be pleased. 'The prime minister of the UK, while he's not involved in this, will be very happy because you know, there's a certain unity that's been brought there, too,' Trump said. 'He's going to be very happy to see what we did.' Starmer had hoped to negotiate a drop in US steel and aluminium tariffs as part of the discussions, but Trump on Sunday ruled out any changes in the 50 per cent duties for the EU and has said the trade deal with Britain has been 'concluded'. The two men are expected to travel from Trump's luxury golf resort in Turnberry, on Scotland's west coast, on Monday to a second sprawling estate owned by Trump in the east, near Aberdeen. Starmer was heading to Scotland from Switzerland, where England on Sunday won the Women's European Championship final. Casting a shadow over their visit has been the deepening crisis in the war-torn Gaza enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world. Starmer has recalled his ministers from their summer recess for a cabinet meeting, a government source said on Sunday, most likely to discuss the situation in Gaza as pressure grows at home and abroad to recognise a Palestinian state. The British leader on Friday said his country would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action. Trump on Friday dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to recognise a Palestinian state, an intention that also drew strong condemnation from Israel, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland in 2024. Trump said he understood Starmer wanted to discuss Israel, adding that while the US would increase its aid to Gaza, it wanted others to join the effort. Ukraine will also be on the agenda. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, with aid groups warning of mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people.
7NEWS
17 minutes ago
- 7NEWS
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stares down internal push for Palestine recognition
The prime minister is staring down internal pressure to recognise a Palestinian state as Labor figures decry the 'unspeakable cruelty' being thrust on civilians in Gaza. Anthony Albanese has been urged to follow in the footsteps of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, but on Sunday said he would not 'imminently' recognise Palestinian statehood. Both major parties in Australia support a two-state solution for Palestinians and Israelis, however Albanese said any resolution would need to guarantee Hamas, the de-facto ruling authority in Gaza, played no part in the future nation. There would also need to be agreements on the rebuilding of Gaza and the West Bank, and a resolution of issues over the expansion of Israeli settlements. But former Labor frontbencher Ed Husic pointed out that recognition of a Palestinian state had been part of Labor's national platform since at least 2018. 'We've already green-lighted it through our party, we've taken it to elections — the circumstances demand it,' the MP told reporters in Canberra on Monday. 'The announcement by the (Israeli) government to partition or reshape the way in which borders exist in Gaza means that we need to send a strong signal that we are opposed to that.' Former Labor Foreign Minister Bob Carr echoed the call. There were ways to address the various obstacles to the new nation being established, he said, adding those considerations were outweighed by a 'bigger fact and bigger truth'. 'Deaths are coming fast, unspeakable cruelty is being visited against babies and children in the enforcement of something not seen in the modern world — that is, an advanced state using mass starvation as a weapon of war and giving effect to a genocide,' he said. 'We will insist that the Palestinian state that comes into being will be one that opts to be a non-militarised state ... that is a serious security guarantee that can be delivered in negotiations, and which the Palestinians have already offered.' More than 140 out of the 193 members of the United Nations already recognise the state of Palestine, including EU members Spain and Ireland. The international push to recognise Palestine has been fuelled by the escalating crisis in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing starvation. Israel cut off aid to Gaza in March before re-opening channels under tight restrictions in May, measures it says are necessary to stop the supplies being diverted to fund Hamas operations. Its officials say enough food has been let into Gaza during the war and Hamas is responsible for the suffering of civilians. Israel's military offensive has already killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. The campaign began after Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation in Australia, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and took 251 hostages. Opposition frontbencher Dan Tehan said Hamas was responsible for continuing to 'politicise and weaponise the use of aid in Gaza'. Multiple aid organisations, including Amnesty and Medecins Sans Frontieres, have condemned the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the trickle of aid being supplied in recent months.
Sky News AU
17 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
‘There is a better way': Sussan Ley hits out at Labor's renewable charge
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley discusses Labor's net zero rush, emphasising how much Australia needs an energy grid which 'works'. 'You have to have a grid that works and that is the most important thing because we are not going to stand by … and see this government trash energy policy in this country,' Ms Ley told Sky News Australia. 'Without making it very clear to Australians that there is a better way.'
