Labor is searching for a new candidate in the seat to be vacated by former foreign minister Julie Bishop at the election, after controversial former MP Melissa Parke quit the race over comments she made last month to a group of pro-Palestinian activists.
Ms Parke claimed to “remember vividly” that a pregnant woman was forced to drink a bottle of bleach at an Israeli checkpoint is Gaza, and likened Israel’s settlements in disputed territory to China’s island-building activity in the South China Sea.
She withdrew from the race on Friday night, following afternoon crisis talks inside the Labor campaign.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor would go back to the drawing board and select a new candidate, while outgoing Melbourne MP Michael Danby celebrated her departure by posting on social media: “good riddance”.
Mr Shorten said Ms Parke’s decision to stand down was her own.
“There’s plenty of views about the Middle East, longer than we have time to debate,” he said at a media conference in New South Wales on Saturday morning.
“Melissa Parke [has] served the United Nations working for refugees.
“I’m not about to start attacking her, but she has made a principled decision that she doesn’t want her views on a particular topic to become a distraction to the election.
“I just say to Australians, it just shows you how determined Labor is to be united and to present its best foot forward for the people of Australia.”
Mr Shorten said he wasn’t aware of Ms Parke’s claims that a pregnant refugee was forced to drink bleach.
“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know,” he said.
“But what this is a story of, is that we’ve got a candidate who’s determined that her views might distract the election and she doesn’t want to do that, and I respect that.”
Read the article by Nathan Hondros in WAToday and the Brisbane Times.