Comment

Paul Bongiorno
Albanese steps up pressure on Israel

In calmer times Anthony Albanese could be well satisfied with the way the first sitting fortnight of the 48th parliament played out. Key election promises such as student debt relief and cheaper medicines are now realities and there was indisputable evidence that inflation has been tamed. Overshadowing it all, however, was the crisis in Gaza.

More accurately, it was the prime minister’s reaction to the unfolding tragedy that sharpened the focus on where he was taking Australia’s response to the conflict he has insisted does not directly involve us.

Albanese has attempted to quarantine domestic politics from what he has called a worsening humanitarian “catastrophe” in Gaza, aware as he is that social cohesion is a delicate balance in multicultural Australia.

Yet as the situation worsened, the political faultlines became more of a chasm. At the weekend, Albanese accused Israel of breaking international law by withholding aid from Gazans who, according to the United Nations and international aid organisations, are starving.

The prime minister told ABC journalist David Speers it was clearly “a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, a decision that Israel made in March”. He said it was a breach of “decent humanity and morality”.

Albanese’s response was sharpened by the disturbing image of an emaciated child in his mother’s arms that had been widely published in Australia and around the world.

The prime minister said the boy, who had a pre-existing condition, was no threat to Israel and was not a Hamas fighter. He said the civilian casualties and deaths are “completely unacceptable. It’s completely indefensible.”

In the interview Albanese acknowledged that the current atrocities began with the “abhorrent” actions of the terrorist organisation Hamas. He said the group was effectively holding the Palestinian people hostage, as well as the remaining Israeli hostages, and could play no part in the future of the Gaza Strip.

Shadow foreign affairs minister Michaelia Cash said she was disappointed the prime minister “once again fails to place any blame on Hamas” – though he clearly did. Her colleague, Dan Tehan, went further, accusing Hamas of being solely responsible for the disaster.

Liberal Senator James Paterson surprised senior government ministers when he told Sky News that Israel was the military power that had effective control of Gaza, and its failure to ensure the civilian population was fed was harming Israel’s international reputation.

The prime minister says he warned Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, in May that this was happening.

By midweek it was apparent relations between Australia and Israel had plummeted to an all-time low. This was after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “bald-face lie” the claim that Israel was responsible for starvation in Gaza. He said there was no starvation. The view was repeated in Canberra by an Israeli diplomat in a briefing to journalists.

In response Albanese told his caucus on Tuesday, “Those claims that there is no starvation are beyond comprehension.”

United States president Donald Trump has no problem agreeing with this. “That’s real starvation stuff,” he said. “I see it, and you can’t fake that.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley refused repeatedly to acknowledge there was starvation in Gaza, though she was “incredibly distressed by the images” she’s seen.

Ley also blamed Hamas, saying that if they released the hostages, the war would end. Netanyahu’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has said something quite different: the war won’t end “until Gaza is completely destroyed” and its Palestinian population leaves “in great numbers to third countries”.

Albanese quoted these sentiments in parliament, in answer to a Greens question demanding he impose sanctions on Israel similar to those being used against Russia. He rejected the comparison but reminded the house that two Israeli ministers have been sanctioned, including Smotrich. He accused the Greens of seeking short-term political advantage with the question.

Albanese, in line with Labor policy, which is expected to be strengthened at this weekend’s Victorian Labor conference, is progressing recognition of Palestinian statehood alongside Israel. Here, the bipartisan two-state solution, in existence since 1947, is being fractured. Not as a target but rather how it is achieved.

Albanese sees the crisis as an opportunity, even quoting Nelson Mandela in caucus: “It always seems impossible until it is done.” Former minister Ed Husic urged Albanese to immediately recognise Palestine, to seize the “moral momentum” created by global reaction to the conflict.

Australia joined 14 other nations on Wednesday in saying recognition is “an essential step towards the two-state solution”, especially in light of the Palestinian Authority calling for the release of the hostages and the disarmament of Hamas.

The Liberals believe this is putting “the cart before the horse” – peace must come first. The willingness of Britain and Canada to follow France and recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, although on certain conditions, puts extra pressure on Australia to do the same. It certainly gives Albanese the cover he believes necessary for any such move at this time.

Albanese says recognition alone is not the entire solution. Some in caucus agree, with one MP saying 140 countries already recognise Palestinian statehood, but it remains an occupied territory. They say this recognition has not fed one starving Palestinian.

The hope is that the weight of hardening world opinion, especially among Israel’s friends in Europe, will shift the dial, but this is undermined without the US. Trump is not on board and runs Netanyahu’s line that recognition would reward Hamas.

While the crisis in Gaza took up much of the week, Sussan Ley is also facing trouble arriving at a position on the net zero emissions target by 2050. At face value, it is puzzling why she would put this policy into any doubt.

Despite the Coalition losing the past two elections with net zero as part of their manifesto, to conclude it was a contributor to those defeats is to fly in the face of reality. Ditching it would only confirm in voters’ minds, particularly in urban electorates, that the Liberals are not genuine in their commitment to effective climate action.

This was the finding of Climate 200’s research ahead of the election, with the Nationals’ Barnaby Joyce emblematic of the Coalition’s poor perception on the policy.

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan makes a similar point, telling The Australian Financial Review the Liberals should not try to trick voters into supporting policies they don’t believe in. “No one votes for us for climate policies,” he says.

This may be true for the regional Nationals, but it is a massive problem for the Liberals, made worse by Joyce tabling his private member’s bill on Monday to blow up the commitment to net zero and probably the Coalition with it.

Normally these bills are gestures left to die unremarkable deaths on the notice papers, but the government has other ideas. It determines how these bills are dealt with, and a government source says Joyce’s bill will be put at No. 1 on the notice paper in sitting weeks.

This means not only that Joyce and his supporters will get to speak to the bill but also affords the chance for government members to join the debate.

There can be no doubt Ley will not be amused. On Monday her office instructed Liberal senators not to vote for a Pauline Hanson motion calling for the abolition of net zero.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen had fun in Question Time lampooning the result. Twenty Coalition senators waited outside the chamber until the vote was over. Two voted for the Hanson motion and two joined the Greens and Labor in voting against it. Bowen said these pairs cancelled each other out. “It was a net zero impact on the vote from those opposite,” he said.

The Nationals are creating the impression net zero is heading for the policy bin, but moderates believe there will be a reality check closer to the next election. If the weekend vote at the Liberals’ state conference in Western Australia is any guide, however, the parliamentary party will have to defy the will of its rank and file to keep the commitment. This is not new but it does require a stronger leader than Ley is seen to be at the moment.

One cabinet minister observed that, for the Liberals, the outcome of the next election could depend on whether they decide to talk to the Australian people or to their branch members.

An SEC Newgate Mood of the Nation poll, published in The Australian, suggests Barnaby Joyce and his crusade against renewables is well short of public support. The survey found 58 per cent of respondents had a positive view of renewables and only 22 per cent were negative. It found 46 per cent thought the transition was proceeding too slowly, while only 19 per cent thought it was too fast.

The chair of the Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean, a former New South Wales Liberal treasurer and energy minister, told a Sydney conference on Tuesday the calls from Joyce and Canavan were a “stunt”.

With the backing of analysis from the Grattan Institute, the CSIRO and others, Kean said the “Joyce sideshow” was actually an argument to jack up electricity bills for mums and dads and businesses and “should be called out for what it is: a disgrace”.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on August 1, 2025 as "Albanese firms stance on Gaza".

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