Anthony Albanese confirms Australia will not join France in recognising Palestinian state while accusing Israel of breaching international law
The Prime Minister told the ABC's Insiders program his government would not support any country that has a terrorist organisation at the heart of it.
French President Emmanual Macron announced he would be formally recognising Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September.
Mr Albanese suggested there needed to be 'structure' for a Palestinian state before Australia could recognise one.
'What we will do is we'll make a decision based upon the time. Is the time right now? Are we about to imminently do that? No, we are not,' he told the ABC on Sunday.
The Prime Minister reinforced Australia supports a two-state solution, while asking the question 'how do you exclude Hamas from any involvement there?'
'How do you ensure that a Palestinian state operates in an appropriate way which does not threaten the existence of Israel? And so we won't do any decision as a gesture. We will do it as a way forward if the circumstances are met,' he said.
Mr Albanese also appeared open for Australia to make decisions on the statehood of Palestine without advice from the United States.
'Australia will always make our decisions as a sovereign state,' he said.
'But the role of the United States is critical. And the United States was playing a role in negotiating with the Saudis and Jordan and states in the region about how you move the Middle East conflict forward.'
Meanwhile, Israel has opened corridors for UN humanitarian aid to enter Gaza while also airdropping aid.
Mr Albanese said it was 'a start' after what he labelled was 'quite clearly' a breach of international law from Israel by withholding aid from civilians in Gaza.
The Prime Minister added that more work was needed to protect innocent Palestinians.
"A one-year-old-boy is not a Hamas fighter. The civilian casualties and death in Gaza is completely unacceptable. It's completely indefensible," he said.
On Friday, the Albanese government said in a statement the situation in Gaza had "gone beyond the world's worst fears", and called on Israel to "comply immediately with its obligations under international law".
The statement also condemned the 'terror and brutality of Hamas' and called for the 'immediate release of the remaining hostages'.
Shadow foreign minister Michaelia Cash unleased on the statement and accused the government of 'pontification' on Sky News' Sunday Agenda.
"I think the unfortunate reality for Mr Albanese is he continues to fail to lay the blame for the ongoing war in Gaza directly at the feet of the terrorists who commenced it," she told Andrew Clennell.
"Does Israel have a moral responsibility? Yes. Should Israel be getting more aid in to the civilians of Gaza? Absolutely, and I call on the Israeli government to work with the international organisations … (But) any moral outrage is with the terrorists."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
31 minutes ago
- ABC News
YouTube to be included in social media ban for under 16s after exemption reversed
Children and teenagers will be barred from logging in to YouTube under the incoming social media ban for under 16s after the government reversed its plan to grant the video sharing site an exemption. Rules of how the ban will operate are set to be presented to parliament on Wednesday, including details of the types of platforms that will not be captured, such as those primarily concerned with gaming, messaging, health and education. It comes days after Google, the parent company of YouTube, threatened legal action if the government scrapped its previously flagged exemption on the basis of the platform's educational uses. Over the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a decision on whether YouTube would be included was yet to be made — despite the draft rules naming the platform as exempt — and that the government would not be influenced by threats from social media companies. "Our government is making it clear — we stand on the side of families," Mr Albanese said in a statement on Tuesday. "Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms, so I'm calling time on it." YouTube differs from other popular social media sites in that it doesn't require users to have an account to access most features and young people will still be able to use the site in a logged-out state after the world-leading laws come into force in December. But including YouTube in the list of social media platforms covered by the ban — which already includes apps like TikTok and Instagram — means under 16s won't be able to access age-restricted content on the video-sharing site. Former communications minister Michelle Rowland initially flagged that YouTube was likely to be exempt from the laws in November last year. But the proposed carve out was thrown into question last month when eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant — who is tasked with implementing the laws — wrote to new Communications Minister Anika Wells formally recommending it be scrapped. She cited eSafety research that found young people used YouTube more than any other social media platform and it was where they were most likely to experience harm online. "When we asked where they were experiencing harm and the kinds of harms they were experiencing, the most prevalent place where young Australians experienced harm was on YouTube — almost 37 per cent," Dr Inman Grant said. "This ranges from misogynistic content to hateful material, to violent fighting videos, online challenges, disordered eating, suicidal ideation." She also argued that YouTube had the characteristics of a platform that should fall under the ban and cautioned against naming specific platforms for carve outs. The platform's competitors had separately campaigned against its exclusion, accusing the government of making a "sweetheart deal" in private submissions. YouTube has previously argued that it is a video streaming platform, rather than a social media site, and therefore should not be captured by the ban, citing evidence that it is widely used in classrooms and by parents. Under the new laws, which are due to come into force on December 10, social media companies will face fines of up to almost $50 million for failing to take "reasonable steps" to bar under 16s from their platforms. "There is no one perfect solution when it comes to keeping young Australians safer online — but the social media minimum age will make a significantly positive difference to their wellbeing," Communications Minister Anika Wells said in a statement. "There's a place for social media, but there's not a place for predatory algorithms targeting children."
ABC News
31 minutes ago
- ABC News
India says three militants involved in shooting attack in India-administered Kashmir killed in firefight
The Indian government says its military has killed three Pakistani militants involved in the shooting attack on tourists in Kashmir which left 26 men dead and sparked a conflict between the two nuclear-armed states in April. The attackers, who New Delhi said were Pakistani nationals backed by Islamabad, had opened fire in a valley popular with tourists in Kashmir's scenic, mountainous region of Pahalgam, before fleeing into the surrounding pine forests. Pakistan has always denied involvement in the attack. The attack led India to target what it called "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, leading to four days of intense fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours before they agreed to a ceasefire. Home Minister Amit Shah discussed the conflict in India's parliament on Tuesday. "I want to tell ... the entire nation that these were the three terrorists who killed our citizens ... and now all three have been killed," Mr Shah said The Indian army said the three people were killed in an intense gun battle in a Kashmir forest on Monday. Mr Shah said that India had a "lot of proof" that the dead "terrorists" were Pakistanis. He said security forces had recovered Pakistani voter identity cards of two of them and chocolates made in Pakistan. The riles involved in the fire-fight on Monday had been forensically tested, he said, with results showing they were the same that were used in the April attack. Pakistan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks. The Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the heart of the hostility between India and Pakistan, who have fought two of their three wars over the region, which they both claim in full but rule in part. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of helping Islamist separatists battling security forces in its part of Kashmir, but Pakistan says it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris seeking self determination. Reuters/ABC
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
YouTube Kids to escape social media ban for children under 16
YouTube Kids will escape the federal government's teen social media ban that could serve as a model for other sites to keep offering their products, and ads, to children under the age of 16. The main YouTube platform will join Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X and Snapchat in being caught by the ban, which is set to come into effect on December 10, after the government backflipped on its earlier plan to exclude Google's video streaming site. The government is expected to table rules in parliament on Wednesday to set which online services will be captured by the laws that were enacted with bipartisan support last year in an effort to protect children from online bullying and body image issues. Sites that are primarily intended for education, messaging, health or online gaming will be exempt. YouTube's inclusion in the ban sets the government up for a possible fight after the platform's owner, Google, sent a letter to Communications Minister Anika Wells threatening to sue if it was not given an exemption. Loading Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said restricting YouTube from use by children under 16 meant his government stood on the side of Australian families. 'Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms, so I'm calling time on it,' he said in a statement. 'Social media is doing social harm to our children, and I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs.'
