Former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr claims a resolution agreed by his state’s party conference is a historic shift because it urges “unconditional” recognition of Palestine by the next federal ALP government.
At the climax of a months-long campaign he hopes will push Labor to endorse immediate Palestinian recognition as national policy next year, Mr Carr said Australia should not be “left stranded in history” behind 137 other countries who had given the nod already.
He said other Labor luminaries Bob Hawke, Kevin Rudd and Gareth Evans backed the change and he believed that if Gough Whitlam were still alive he would say “it’s time” to recognise Palestine.
While many in Labor agree that the party has shifted, they disagreed yesterday with Mr Carr’s interpretation, or that he had scored a big victory, because of qualifying points added to an earlier blunt resolution that had urged the next Labor government to recognise Palestine without any qualifications.
The final motion passed on the floor of the NSW ALP conference yesterday with the agreement of right and left factions included a provision to recognise previous motions on Israel and Palestine carried at the ALP’s 2015 national conference, and last year’s NSW conference.
Read the full article by Brad Norington at The Australian (subscription only).