Is Australia's multicultural project in trouble?
And as NAIDOC week celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Minister for Aboriginal Australians has indicated a willingness to consider truth-telling at a federal level, but is Anthony Albanese on board?
Patricia Karvelas and Jacob Greber break it all down on Politics Now.
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Sky News AU
19 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Albanese pressed on whether Australia will recognise Palestine as a state
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was questioned on the "atrocities" in Gaza and the call to recognise Palestine as a state. "I share the distress that people around the world would feel around young Mohammad, one year old, he is not a threat to the state of Israel, nor is he someone who can be seen to be a fighter for Hamas," Mr Albanese said during Question Time on Monday. "The position of the Australian government is very clear that innocent life matters, every Israeli and every Palestinian. "My government is committed to a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine."

ABC News
19 minutes ago
- ABC News
Liberal Party's climate policy a huge headache for state and federal leaders
Political parties are funny beasts, as the Liberals were reminded on the weekend. To win elections they need to appeal to broad sections of the community, many of whom only have a passing interest in politics once every few years. Former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard famously referred to the party as a "broad church" for voters. And yet the heart of the parties — the kind of people who, for example, show up to Saturday morning meetings years out from an election — are not always representative of broader society. Both Labor and the Liberals can struggle at times because it is those very people who help shape policies — and more importantly, party brands in the eyes of ordinary voters. It can create headaches when, for example, that core group votes to abandon a commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, continuing a debate which has dogged the party for years, as the WA Liberals' State Council did on Saturday. The group also voted to remove the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags behind the prime minister at press conferences and cut back on Welcome to Country ceremonies. The net zero issue has dogged the Liberals for years, with federal leader Sussan Ley setting up a working group to review the party's policy after its federal election drubbing. But the WA Liberals' State Council was not waiting for that review, nor was one of its most prominent voices who supported the motion. "We're part of a process," frontbencher Andrew Hastie, acknowledged on Saturday. "But I think it's pretty clear the South Australian division, the WA division, the Northern Territory division have adopted this position. "We'll see how the LNP goes in future weeks." The debate is shaping up as a thorny issue for Ley, who faces not only division between the party's membership and its elected members, but among its own MPs. In a sign of just how thorny the issue is, WA Leader Basil Zempilas had to spend part of his Monday morning defending his different position after attending the council meeting, but leaving before votes were taken. "The WA Parliamentary Liberal Party supports the status quo," he told reporters. "We are very comfortable with standing in front of the Aboriginal flag, we are very comfortable with the Welcome to Country and we support the status quo on the net zero targets." Party members who spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity to speak freely pointed out there was not necessarily anything unusual with that position. The views of the lay party — ordinary members who voted on Saturday — are not binding on elected MPs, who have the final say on the party's policies. Lay party motions are just one viewpoint to consider, they said. Also, they added, the motions were focused on the federal party, not the state. Which is all well and good, and gives Zempilas the ability to freely offer his own position without creating an even bigger storm. But it does little to solve the Liberals' key problem: the effect this splintering can have on public perception at both state and federal levels. Because the potential cost of this position is making it harder to win back the very voters who have deserted the party in recent years. At a state level, the party had bled voters to a more centrist Labor Party for a range of reasons, including it would seem the Liberals' drift further to the right on some issues. Federally, the cost has been even more clearly seen in seats taken by teal independents. The seat of Curtin, taking in Perth's leafy Western suburbs, had been as Liberal as they come until independent Kate Chaney swung the electorate in 2019 with a campaign heavily focused on climate. "I got the biggest swing in WA, five-and-a-half per cent. Pretty sure I got a strong endorsement," was Hastie's alternative view. For some though, there is also a view this issue is about more than just net zero, but ultimately the leadership of the party. While far from a universal view, there is little doubt having such a public show of disunity so early into Ley's leadership will only work against her prospects of staying in the job long-term. Hastie had been touted as a possible leadership contender after the May federal election, but bowed out early before Ley was installed. "I'd be foolish to say I don't have a desire to lead, I do have a desire to lead," he told the Curtin's Cast podcast at the time. "But the timing was all out for personal reasons." Politics is a game where little is done without an eye to the future prospects of each decision. Hastie, and others, clearly see some benefit in creating a clear point of difference with Labor over future climate policy. The question voters will decide in a few years' time is whether that is of benefit only among the party's core base, or helps win over electors more widely.


Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
PM 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 Mr 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.