Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has drawn parallels with the discrimination endured by ethnic communities and Indigenous Australians, in a speech to the Jewish community in which he also restated Labor’s support for the two-state solution regarding Israel and Palestine.
Speaking to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne on Friday, the prime minister said the government was not about to change tack on foreign policy, amid a rising push among Labor’s rank-and-file to recognise Palestine as a state.
The Jewish community expressed alarm a fortnight ago after Labor’s Victorian branch passed a motion demanding the Albanese government immediately recognise Palestine as a state. A similar motion will be put at Labor’s signature national conference in August.
Factional bosses are working behind the scenes to ensure it does pass, even though there will be enough support among delegates.
Currently, Australia recognises the right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders.
Mr Albanese noted the role former Labor leader Doc Evatt played via the United Nations to establish the state of Israel.
“We continue Australia’s support for a two-state solution. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to prosper in peace behind secure and recognised borders,” he said.
Mr Albanese used his speech to make the case for the Indigenous Voice to parliament, noting that Australia’s many ethnic communities – Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist – were advocating a Yes vote in the referendum to be held in spring.
Read the article by Phillip Coorey in the Financial Review.