‘The aggression has to stop’: Penny Wong blasts Greens, Liberals over Israel

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called for Labor’s resounding election victory to mark a turning point in the way Australian politicians debate divisive foreign policy issues, as she argued both the Coalition and Greens paid an electoral cost for their stance on the war in Gaza.

After being attacked from the right and left for over 18 months for its response to the Israel-Hamas war, Labor believes its electoral success has vindicated its attempt to craft a balanced and moderate policy on the vexed issue of the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australians need to stop attacking each other over conflict in the Middle East.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Greens accused the Albanese government of enabling a genocide in Gaza and providing weapons to Israel, while the Coalition lashed out at Labor for allegedly fuelling antisemitism by voting against Israel in United Nations motions.

“A clear lesson from the election is that Australians don’t want political leaders to amplify overseas conflict for their own purposes as the Greens and Liberals did,” Wong told this masthead.

“Both parties spread false information to exploit legitimate concerns.”

“We may not be able to stop the conflict in Gaza from here, but we can make choices about how we deal with it here at home.”

Wong continued: “We have to make the choice to stop attacking each other. The aggression and vitriol has to stop. The denigration of others needs to end.”

Labor insiders point to the party’s ability to fight off an energetic Greens campaign in Peter Khalil’s progressive Melbourne seat of Wills, which has been a hotbed of pro-Palestinian activism, while retaining Josh Burns’ seat of Macnamara its high Jewish population as evidence of the success of its approach.

Labor also comfortably held on to previously safe seats where independent candidates tried to harness anger in communities of Middle Eastern heritage over the war in Gaza to unseat some of the party’s most senior MPs.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke extended his margin in his western Sydney seat of Watson after independent candidate Ziad Basyouny, who was endorsed by the Muslim Votes Matter group, won 15 per cent of the vote.

Wong said: “So many of us are deeply distressed by the unbearable suffering of civilians and hostages still being held in Gaza.

“We want this terrible conflict to end.

“We want a ceasefire, aid to flow, the release of hostages, humanitarian law to be upheld and breaking the cycle of violence which requires progress towards two states.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday linked the Greens’ disappointing performance, including the loss of leader Adam Bandt’s seat of Melbourne, to its fervent criticism of the government’s stance on the war in Gaza.

“Australians know that the Australian government is not responsible for what has occurred in the Middle East, and I think some of the opportunism that was there, that demonstration outside my electoral office turned off my local community,” Albanese told Sky News.

Bandt has denied that the party’s stance on the war in Gaza dragged down his vote in Melbourne.

“I’m proud to have raised my voice for the people of Palestine who are being decimated, and to have continued to call for a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis based on an end to the invasion and an end to the occupation,” he said in a statement conceding he would lose his seat to Labor.

Labor MP Julian Hill, who led a push for Australia to ban extremist Israeli settlers from visiting the country, said the loss of Bandt’s seat and Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson represented “a moment of profound significance” for the nation’s foreign policy debate.

“The extremist populist left and reactionary right shamefully weaponised the Gaza conflict and constantly sought to divide Australians and block progress,” he said.

“Defeat of both ‘leaders’ is the ultimate political price. The Australian people have rejected their toxic politics of division and mindless negativity.”

Wong last year accused Greens politicians of collaborating with violent pro-Palestine protesters and inciting attacks on Labor MPs’ offices, a claim rejected by the Greens as a false smear.

The Albanese government angered Israel last year by voting in favour of United Nations resolutions demanding the nation end its presence in the occupied Palestinian territories as soon as possible, and calling for the evacuation of all settlers from the West Bank and Gaza.

The government also rejected Greens’ claims that Australia was exporting weapons to Israel, with Defence Minister Richard Marles stating that no military equipment had been supplied to the country since the invasion of Gaza.

More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October 2023 following the shock incursion by militant group Hamas, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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