Labor moves to punish Greens over Gaza stance – and it could play into Liberal hands

Labor is considering punishing the Greens for its stance on the war in Gaza by denying preferences to the minor party in a contentious move that could hand a critical Melbourne seat to the Liberal Party.

The ultra-marginal inner-city seat of Macnamara takes in the suburbs of St Kilda and Caulfield and is being targeted by the Greens, the minor party falling just hundreds of votes short of knocking Labor into third position at the 2022 election.

MP Josh Burns is in a tight three-way fight in his seat of Macnamara.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Instead, the Liberal candidate battled incumbent Labor MP Josh Burns in the final count and Burns easily won the seat once Greens preferences flowed to him.

If Burns falls into third position after preferences of less popular candidates are distributed, Labor voters’ preferences could hand the seat to the Greens candidate Sonya Semmens.

To avoid this and send a message to the 12 per cent of Macnamara voters who are Jewish, senior Labor figures in Macnamara have asked party boss Paul Erickson to use what is known as an “open ticket” in the seat.

This would mean Labor would not hand out leaflets that direct others to preference the Greens before the Liberals.

Such a decision – set to be formally decided in coming days according to party sources unauthorised to speak on the record – is controversial because Greens preferences help push Labor candidates above Liberals in many seats across the country.

Labor is confident it will not drop into third position and will retain the seat.

The history of preferences in Macnamara has long been vexed, stretching back to when Labor MP and vocal Israel supporter Michael Danby put out his own how-to-vote cards directing preferences to the Liberals when the seat was called Melbourne Ports.

Macnamara’s Jewish community suffered the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea and several incidents of antisemitic graffiti. There is local hostility towards the Greens’ pro-Palestine stance and Labor’s actions following the deterioration of Australia’s relationship with Israel. But an open ticket could hurt Labor nationally if Greens leader Adam Bandt chose to retaliate by failing to preference Labor in other seats.

Asked about the prospect of Labor running an open ticket in Macnamara, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday: “I don’t engage in preference negotiations, as you’re aware. But I say this about McNamara: Josh Burns is a fantastic local MP. The Greens political party have lost their way.”

Former Labor state minister Philip Dalidakis, who is Jewish, said Burns needed to be able to tell frustrated Jewish voters that despite the government’s criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 60,000 people, Labor stood against the Greens.

Dalidakis described the Greens as “a radicalised, extreme fringe party creating division at home instead of sowing the seeds of harmony. They don’t deserve people’s vote, trust or preferences”.

Highlighting the risk of Greens pushback, a spokesman for Bandt said: “It would be astounding if Labor helped a Liberal get elected and brought Peter Dutton and his Trump-style politics closer to government.”

Albanese and Dutton both claim the Greens have exploited the conflict in Gaza and fanned the flames of anti-Jewish sentiment to win votes.

A NSW Greens MP apologised for antisemitic remarks about the “tentacles” of the Jewish lobby and a senior federal Greens staffer was reprimanded late last year for suggesting the Adass synagogue was a false flag perpetrated by Jews.

Bandt has repeatedly rejected these charges and said his party’s stance reflected its history as an anti-war outfit in its campaign against the Israeli government, which has been accused of potential war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Zionist Federation president Jeremy Leibler said: “The Greens have cynically exploited community tensions without regard for the social consequences, fuelling antisemitic conspiracy theories and rhetoric. And in Macnamara, political parties must do everything they can to ensure the Greens don’t win this seat.”

Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council’s Colin Rubenstein called on Labor not to preference the Greens: “The ALP has called the Greens out on this extremism, and the Greens can only win the seat with ALP preferences, so it is really incumbent on the ALP to be principled”.

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