Trade Minister Don Farrell remains confident a Labor conference stoush has been avoided following the federal government’s change of language on Israel.
Labor is set to strengthen objections to the Israeli government’s planned settlement expansion, and had expressed concerns about activities that hindered the prospect of peace in the region.
As part of the change in language, Australia will return to the position of previous governments and refer to “Palestinian occupied territories”.
This decision matches the position of Australia’s key diplomatic partners such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the European Union.
The issue was set to come to a head at Labor’s upcoming national conference later this week.
Senator Farrell said the position would have the backing of the conference once it began.
“It’s a sensible position that the Labor Party has adopted in respect of Palestine and Israel,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“(Foreign Minister Penny Wong) has made it very clear that she supports the current policy in respect of Israel and in Palestine and I’d be very confident that the position that she adopts – which the government supports – will be the position that the delegates of the conference will support.”
Read the article by Andrew Brown in the Mandurah Mail and The West Australian.