Australia joins UK, Canada in historic Palestine state recognition
Australia has joined Britain and Canada in formally recognising Palestinian statehood, sparking fury from Israel’s leader who vowed “it will not happen”.
Australia, Britain and Canada have officially recognised a Palestinian state in a seismic shift in decades of western foreign policy, triggering swift Israeli anger.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong declared late Sunday that Australia had formally recognised the “independent and sovereign State of Palestine”.
“In doing so, Australia recognises the legitimate and long held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own,” they said in a joint statement.
“Australia’s recognition of Palestine today, alongside Canada and the United Kingdom, is part of a co-ordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution, starting with a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages taken in the atrocities of October 7, 2023.”
The statement said the recognition was a commitment to “the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.”
The international community has set out clear requirements for the Palestinian Authority.
A furious Benjamin Netanyahu said the three leaders were rewarding terror.
“There will be no Palestinian state,” the Israeli Prime Minister said in a video.
“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognise a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre on October 7 – you are giving a huge reward to terrorism.
“And I have another message for you: It will not happen. A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”
יש לי מסר ברור ל××•×ª× ×ž× ×”×™×’×™× ×©×ž×›×™×¨×™× ×‘×ž×“×™× ×” ×¤×œ×¡×˜×™× ×™×ª ל×חר הטבח ×”× ×•×¨× ×‘-7 ב×וקטובר: pic.twitter.com/YhrfEHjRhZ
— Benjamin Netanyahu - ×‘× ×™×ž×™×Ÿ × ×ª× ×™×”×• (@netanyahu) September 21, 2025
Speaking at the United Nations complex in New York after the announcement, Mr Albanese brushed off questions about the impact the policy split would have on Australia’s relationship with the United States.
“In making this recognition, I’m saying that Australia makes our position clear as a sovereign nation,” he said.
“Our foreign policy isn’t determined in Washington or Beijing or Wellington for that matter, our foreign policy is determined around the cabinet table in Canberra.”
He and foreign minister Penny Wong will attend a two-state solution conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia at the UN on Monday local time.
“This is the best chance the world has had in decades to disarm and isolate Hamas and deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine,” Mr Albanese said.
“This is a moment of opportunity for nations of goodwill to work together to see the hostages taken in the atrocities of October 7, 2023 returned immediately and with dignity to bring about an immediate ceasefire and to bring an end to the humanitarian catastrophe which is being inflicted on Gaza, to see vital aid, food, water, medicine flow to people in need.”
Minister Wong said Australia would move toward building diplomatic relations and establishing embassies in conjunction with the Palestinian authority meeting its commitments.
Mr Albanese would not be drawn on the exact conditions that would need to be met in order for embassies to be established, or where Australia’s embassy to Palestine would be located.
“All of those matters are to be determined when the time comes,” he said.
“We’re not about to open an embassy to be very clear.
“What we are doing, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, what we are doing is recognising the state of Palestine.”
The Prime Minister said Australians wanted the killing to stop.
“Australians also, of course, don’t want conflict to be brought to Australia,” he said.
“And Australians want the people of Palestine and the people of Israel to know a future of greater hope, true security and real peace.
“Today, we advance that cause.”
The President of the Palestinian Authority has given “direct undertakings to Australia, including commitments to hold democratic elections and enact significant reform to finance, governance and education” and “terrorist organisation Hamas must have no role in Palestine.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said Australia’s commitment was “so vague as to be meaningless” and gave no reassurance the Palestinian Authority would honour its undertakings.
“Far from creating momentum towards a two-State peace, recognition of a Palestinian State in these circumstances will set the process back,” Mr Aghion said.
“Hamas and the other terrorist groups have already hailed the move as a reward for their violence and rejectionism towards Israel, the ‘fruits’ of the atrocities it committed in Israel on October 7. “They will now have less incentive, not more, to release the hostages and disarm.”
He said Australia’s recognition would prolong the survival of Hamas and the suffering caused by the terrorist group.
‘RECKLESS’: LEY SLAMS ALBO’S MOVE
Australia’s Opposition said recognising Palestinian statehood was “reckless”, broke a decades-long bipartisan position and could “prolong” the war in Gaza.
Sussan Ley and her foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash slammed the move in a statement, saying: “Recognition must come at the end of a peace process not during the conflict.
“Palestine has no established borders and no effective government.
“The inconvenient truth for the Albanese government is this recognition comes while hostages remain in tunnels under Gaza and while the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian people remain under the control of the listed terrorist organisation Hamas.”
They said Mr Albanese had “abandoned” a shared vision of “a two-state process that would assure the democratic rights of the Palestinian people and uphold the security of the State of Israel”.
“The Palestinian people can see no hope of democratic self-governance while Hamas is in power,” Ms Ley and Senator Cash said.
“Today the Albanese government extends a hollow gesture of false hope to the Palestinian people.
“For the Israeli people, it extends a chilling act of concession to the Hamas terrorists who continue to seek their annihilation.”
They also warned the “actions of the Albanese government may prolong the conflict by strengthening Hamas’ credibility”.
“This is why the Coalition has always maintained that recognition must come after crucial conditions being fulfilled, not before,” they said.
“The Coalition opposes this decision and calls for it to be reversed.
“A responsible Australian government must deal with the world as it is, not as it would wish it to be and it should stand with our most important ally, the United States of America.”
WATERSHED MOMENT
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a message on X: “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine.”
Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly which opens Monday in New York.
“Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X.
It is a watershed moment for Palestinians and their decades-long ambitions for statehood, with the most powerful western nations having long argued it should only come as part of a negotiated peace deal with Israel.
But the move puts those countries at odds with the United States and Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacting angrily and vowing to oppose it at the UN talks.
Calls for a Palestinian state “would endanger our existence and serve as absurd reward for terrorism,” Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday, local time.
A growing number of longtime allies have shifted positions, as Israel has intensified its Gaza offensive, vowing to eliminate the Hamas Palestinian militants.
The Gaza Strip has suffered vast destruction, a spiralling death toll and a lack of food that has sparked a major humanitarian crisis since the start of the conflict which has drawn an international outcry.
The UK government has come under increasing public pressure to act, with thousands rallying every month on the streets. A poll released by YouGov on Friday showed two-thirds of young Britons aged 18-25 supported Palestinian statehood.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy acknowledged at the UN in July that “Britain bears a special burden of responsibility to support the two-state solution”.
Over a century ago, the UK was pivotal in laying the groundwork for the creation of the state of Israel through the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Three-quarters of UN members already recognise Palestinian statehood, with over 140 of the 193 having taken the step.
Sir Keir said in July that his Labour government intended to recognise a Palestinian State unless Israel took “substantive” steps including reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, getting more aid into the territory and confirming it would not annex the West Bank.
Sir Keir has also repeatedly called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages they captured in the 2023 attack, and is expected to set out new sanctions on the Palestinian militants.
Mr Lammy told the BBC on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority – the civilian body that governs in areas of the West Bank – had been calling for the move for some time “and I think a lot of that is wrapped up in hope”.
“Will this feed children? No it won’t, that’s down to humanitarian aid. Will this free hostages? That must be down to a ceasefire.”
But he said it was an attempt to “hold out for” a two-state solution.
Palestinian foreign minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin told AFP last week: “Recognition is not symbolic.” “It sends a very clear message to the Israelis on their illusions on continuing their occupation forever,” she added.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 65,208 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gazan health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Portugal said that it would also formally declare its recognition in New York on Sunday.
“By acting now, as the Portuguese government has decided, we’re keeping alive the possibility of having two states,” Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said.
On Sunday, the Australian Prime Minister also held a bilateral meeting with the King of Jordan Abdullah II and is expected to have other one-on-one sessions with other world leaders over the coming days.
As the pair met, King Abdullah II said he was looking forward to visiting Australia in the near future to commemorate 50 years of strong relations.
“I can say, sir, that over the years we have great political relationship and a great relationship when it comes to intelligence and military, and we’ll wait till the cameras go to work out how to get that even better,” he said.
Mr Albanese said he looked forward to welcoming the Jordanian King in the first quarter of 2026.
– with AFP and NewsWire
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