'Don't agree': Former Labor MP who pushed for sanction powers speaks out against Albanese's Israel move

The Advertiser

11-06-2025

A former Labor MP who spent years advocating for laws giving Australia the power to sanction foreign actors for international law breaches has spoken out against the Albanese government's decision to join four other countries in using them against two Israeli ministers.
Michael Danby, who served as the member for Melbourne Ports (now Macnamara) for 20 years before retiring from politics in 2019, was a key architect - along with the late Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching - of Australia's Magnitsky-style sanctions legislation passed in 2022, which enables travel bans to be imposed and assets frozen without warning.
He took aim at Foreign Minister Penny Wong for sanctioning Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich overnight, telling The Canberra Times this was not the way the law was designed to be used.
"I don't agree with [the decision]," Mr Danby, who is Jewish and has long been a vocal supporter of Israel, said.
"Magnitsky sanctions were only meant to be focused on authoritarian states - not democratic states like Israel, where elections or the rule of law can deal with violations by individuals, including local politicians.
"Foreign Minister Wong's action against a democratic state throws into sharp relief her failure to employ Magnitsky laws against big fish from authoritarian states - like Beijing's cruel communist commissars in Tibet and East Turkestan ... Whose children often try and get educated here, who like to come on holidays to the Gold Coast here."
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told Seven's Sunrise on Wednesday morning that the decision to sanction the two ministers over their expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank had been made "after a long process of deliberation and consideration".
"We're doing that because we are all deeply concerned about the extremist settler enterprise of the Netanyahu government," she said.
"We're concerned about it because it is undermining the prospects of two states. And ultimately, we, along with those other countries and the broader international community, believe we can only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security."
It is believed to be the first time Magnitsky laws, which are in force across many Western countries, have been used against individuals from democratic countries. Australia has previously using the laws to sanction individuals and entities in Russia, Iran, and Myanmar.
Mr Danby said he agreed with criticism from United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the move did "not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire" in the Hamas-Israel war.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected this criticism on Wednesday, telling ABC radio: "I think those responses are predictable, frankly."
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said in a statement: "The sanctioning of democratically elected officials of a key ally, Israel, is a very serious development."
"The Magnitsky sanctions regime was designed to respond to serious matters of international concern, such as human rights abuses and terrorist acts," Ms Ley said.
"The government must explain, in full, why it is being applied in these circumstances ... We have not received a briefing about this matter but would expect there to be a very high threshold for this decision."
She called on the government to "explain why they have seemingly lowered the threshold for imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions, and whether this new approach will be applied to comments made by officials from other countries."
"This may have serious implications for our international relationships," Ms Ley said.
She said the government's explanatory materials "make clear that Minister Wong exercised a discretionary power to impose the sanctions because of public comments made by the two Israeli Ministers, which "appears to be a new development in our foreign policy."
"We are concerned that there is a pattern of decisions by the Albanese government targeting the Israeli government, rather than Hamas, including the decision to block the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister from travelling to Australia."
Mr Albanese told the ABC his government continued to "engage with the Israeli government", while standing firm on the decision, saying the two Israeli ministers had "incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank".
He said the Israeli government needed to "uphold its obligations under international law", saying that "expansionist rhetoric ... from these hardline right-wing members of the Netanyahu government" contradicted this.
Senator Wong would not be drawn on whether sanctions against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself had been considered when Australia joined Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in sanctioning the Israeli ministers.
She said only that while the two ministers were "not the only members of the Israeli government whose actions have been problematic, they are certainly the most extreme." As to other matters, we don't speculate about the approach," Senator Wong told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli ministers are accused of inciting and supporting systemic violence against Palestinians and aggressively expanding illegal Israeli settlements.
They will face travel bans and have any Australian assets frozen under laws.
A former Labor MP who spent years advocating for laws giving Australia the power to sanction foreign actors for international law breaches has spoken out against the Albanese government's decision to join four other countries in using them against two Israeli ministers.
Michael Danby, who served as the member for Melbourne Ports (now Macnamara) for 20 years before retiring from politics in 2019, was a key architect - along with the late Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching - of Australia's Magnitsky-style sanctions legislation passed in 2022, which enables travel bans to be imposed and assets frozen without warning.
He took aim at Foreign Minister Penny Wong for sanctioning Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich overnight, telling The Canberra Times this was not the way the law was designed to be used.
"I don't agree with [the decision]," Mr Danby, who is Jewish and has long been a vocal supporter of Israel, said.
"Magnitsky sanctions were only meant to be focused on authoritarian states - not democratic states like Israel, where elections or the rule of law can deal with violations by individuals, including local politicians.
"Foreign Minister Wong's action against a democratic state throws into sharp relief her failure to employ Magnitsky laws against big fish from authoritarian states - like Beijing's cruel communist commissars in Tibet and East Turkestan ... Whose children often try and get educated here, who like to come on holidays to the Gold Coast here."
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told Seven's Sunrise on Wednesday morning that the decision to sanction the two ministers over their expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank had been made "after a long process of deliberation and consideration".
"We're doing that because we are all deeply concerned about the extremist settler enterprise of the Netanyahu government," she said.
"We're concerned about it because it is undermining the prospects of two states. And ultimately, we, along with those other countries and the broader international community, believe we can only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security."
It is believed to be the first time Magnitsky laws, which are in force across many Western countries, have been used against individuals from democratic countries. Australia has previously using the laws to sanction individuals and entities in Russia, Iran, and Myanmar.
Mr Danby said he agreed with criticism from United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the move did "not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire" in the Hamas-Israel war.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected this criticism on Wednesday, telling ABC radio: "I think those responses are predictable, frankly."
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said in a statement: "The sanctioning of democratically elected officials of a key ally, Israel, is a very serious development."
"The Magnitsky sanctions regime was designed to respond to serious matters of international concern, such as human rights abuses and terrorist acts," Ms Ley said.
"The government must explain, in full, why it is being applied in these circumstances ... We have not received a briefing about this matter but would expect there to be a very high threshold for this decision."
She called on the government to "explain why they have seemingly lowered the threshold for imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions, and whether this new approach will be applied to comments made by officials from other countries."
"This may have serious implications for our international relationships," Ms Ley said.
She said the government's explanatory materials "make clear that Minister Wong exercised a discretionary power to impose the sanctions because of public comments made by the two Israeli Ministers, which "appears to be a new development in our foreign policy."
"We are concerned that there is a pattern of decisions by the Albanese government targeting the Israeli government, rather than Hamas, including the decision to block the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister from travelling to Australia."
Mr Albanese told the ABC his government continued to "engage with the Israeli government", while standing firm on the decision, saying the two Israeli ministers had "incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank".
He said the Israeli government needed to "uphold its obligations under international law", saying that "expansionist rhetoric ... from these hardline right-wing members of the Netanyahu government" contradicted this.
Senator Wong would not be drawn on whether sanctions against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself had been considered when Australia joined Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in sanctioning the Israeli ministers.
She said only that while the two ministers were "not the only members of the Israeli government whose actions have been problematic, they are certainly the most extreme." As to other matters, we don't speculate about the approach," Senator Wong told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli ministers are accused of inciting and supporting systemic violence against Palestinians and aggressively expanding illegal Israeli settlements.
They will face travel bans and have any Australian assets frozen under laws.
A former Labor MP who spent years advocating for laws giving Australia the power to sanction foreign actors for international law breaches has spoken out against the Albanese government's decision to join four other countries in using them against two Israeli ministers.
Michael Danby, who served as the member for Melbourne Ports (now Macnamara) for 20 years before retiring from politics in 2019, was a key architect - along with the late Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching - of Australia's Magnitsky-style sanctions legislation passed in 2022, which enables travel bans to be imposed and assets frozen without warning.
He took aim at Foreign Minister Penny Wong for sanctioning Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich overnight, telling The Canberra Times this was not the way the law was designed to be used.
"I don't agree with [the decision]," Mr Danby, who is Jewish and has long been a vocal supporter of Israel, said.
"Magnitsky sanctions were only meant to be focused on authoritarian states - not democratic states like Israel, where elections or the rule of law can deal with violations by individuals, including local politicians.
"Foreign Minister Wong's action against a democratic state throws into sharp relief her failure to employ Magnitsky laws against big fish from authoritarian states - like Beijing's cruel communist commissars in Tibet and East Turkestan ... Whose children often try and get educated here, who like to come on holidays to the Gold Coast here."
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told Seven's Sunrise on Wednesday morning that the decision to sanction the two ministers over their expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank had been made "after a long process of deliberation and consideration".
"We're doing that because we are all deeply concerned about the extremist settler enterprise of the Netanyahu government," she said.
"We're concerned about it because it is undermining the prospects of two states. And ultimately, we, along with those other countries and the broader international community, believe we can only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security."
It is believed to be the first time Magnitsky laws, which are in force across many Western countries, have been used against individuals from democratic countries. Australia has previously using the laws to sanction individuals and entities in Russia, Iran, and Myanmar.
Mr Danby said he agreed with criticism from United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the move did "not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire" in the Hamas-Israel war.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected this criticism on Wednesday, telling ABC radio: "I think those responses are predictable, frankly."
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said in a statement: "The sanctioning of democratically elected officials of a key ally, Israel, is a very serious development."
"The Magnitsky sanctions regime was designed to respond to serious matters of international concern, such as human rights abuses and terrorist acts," Ms Ley said.
"The government must explain, in full, why it is being applied in these circumstances ... We have not received a briefing about this matter but would expect there to be a very high threshold for this decision."
She called on the government to "explain why they have seemingly lowered the threshold for imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions, and whether this new approach will be applied to comments made by officials from other countries."
"This may have serious implications for our international relationships," Ms Ley said.
She said the government's explanatory materials "make clear that Minister Wong exercised a discretionary power to impose the sanctions because of public comments made by the two Israeli Ministers, which "appears to be a new development in our foreign policy."
"We are concerned that there is a pattern of decisions by the Albanese government targeting the Israeli government, rather than Hamas, including the decision to block the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister from travelling to Australia."
Mr Albanese told the ABC his government continued to "engage with the Israeli government", while standing firm on the decision, saying the two Israeli ministers had "incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank".
He said the Israeli government needed to "uphold its obligations under international law", saying that "expansionist rhetoric ... from these hardline right-wing members of the Netanyahu government" contradicted this.
Senator Wong would not be drawn on whether sanctions against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself had been considered when Australia joined Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in sanctioning the Israeli ministers.
She said only that while the two ministers were "not the only members of the Israeli government whose actions have been problematic, they are certainly the most extreme." As to other matters, we don't speculate about the approach," Senator Wong told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli ministers are accused of inciting and supporting systemic violence against Palestinians and aggressively expanding illegal Israeli settlements.
They will face travel bans and have any Australian assets frozen under laws.
A former Labor MP who spent years advocating for laws giving Australia the power to sanction foreign actors for international law breaches has spoken out against the Albanese government's decision to join four other countries in using them against two Israeli ministers.
Michael Danby, who served as the member for Melbourne Ports (now Macnamara) for 20 years before retiring from politics in 2019, was a key architect - along with the late Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching - of Australia's Magnitsky-style sanctions legislation passed in 2022, which enables travel bans to be imposed and assets frozen without warning.
He took aim at Foreign Minister Penny Wong for sanctioning Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich overnight, telling The Canberra Times this was not the way the law was designed to be used.
"I don't agree with [the decision]," Mr Danby, who is Jewish and has long been a vocal supporter of Israel, said.
"Magnitsky sanctions were only meant to be focused on authoritarian states - not democratic states like Israel, where elections or the rule of law can deal with violations by individuals, including local politicians.
"Foreign Minister Wong's action against a democratic state throws into sharp relief her failure to employ Magnitsky laws against big fish from authoritarian states - like Beijing's cruel communist commissars in Tibet and East Turkestan ... Whose children often try and get educated here, who like to come on holidays to the Gold Coast here."
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told Seven's Sunrise on Wednesday morning that the decision to sanction the two ministers over their expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank had been made "after a long process of deliberation and consideration".
"We're doing that because we are all deeply concerned about the extremist settler enterprise of the Netanyahu government," she said.
"We're concerned about it because it is undermining the prospects of two states. And ultimately, we, along with those other countries and the broader international community, believe we can only see peace in the Middle East when we deal with two states and when both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security."
It is believed to be the first time Magnitsky laws, which are in force across many Western countries, have been used against individuals from democratic countries. Australia has previously using the laws to sanction individuals and entities in Russia, Iran, and Myanmar.
Mr Danby said he agreed with criticism from United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the move did "not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire" in the Hamas-Israel war.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected this criticism on Wednesday, telling ABC radio: "I think those responses are predictable, frankly."
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said in a statement: "The sanctioning of democratically elected officials of a key ally, Israel, is a very serious development."
"The Magnitsky sanctions regime was designed to respond to serious matters of international concern, such as human rights abuses and terrorist acts," Ms Ley said.
"The government must explain, in full, why it is being applied in these circumstances ... We have not received a briefing about this matter but would expect there to be a very high threshold for this decision."
She called on the government to "explain why they have seemingly lowered the threshold for imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions, and whether this new approach will be applied to comments made by officials from other countries."
"This may have serious implications for our international relationships," Ms Ley said.
She said the government's explanatory materials "make clear that Minister Wong exercised a discretionary power to impose the sanctions because of public comments made by the two Israeli Ministers, which "appears to be a new development in our foreign policy."
"We are concerned that there is a pattern of decisions by the Albanese government targeting the Israeli government, rather than Hamas, including the decision to block the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister from travelling to Australia."
Mr Albanese told the ABC his government continued to "engage with the Israeli government", while standing firm on the decision, saying the two Israeli ministers had "incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank".
He said the Israeli government needed to "uphold its obligations under international law", saying that "expansionist rhetoric ... from these hardline right-wing members of the Netanyahu government" contradicted this.
Senator Wong would not be drawn on whether sanctions against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself had been considered when Australia joined Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in sanctioning the Israeli ministers.
She said only that while the two ministers were "not the only members of the Israeli government whose actions have been problematic, they are certainly the most extreme." As to other matters, we don't speculate about the approach," Senator Wong told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
The Israeli ministers are accused of inciting and supporting systemic violence against Palestinians and aggressively expanding illegal Israeli settlements.
They will face travel bans and have any Australian assets frozen under laws.