Albanese must show he is serious about defusing mischief-making Greens

Anthony Albanese has made a political virtue of his loathing of the Greens, who have provided spirited electoral competition in his inner-Sydney electorate. But as the full extent of the Greens’ unhealthy community disruptions become clear, the Prime Minister must do more than relish a verbal stoush. He must take action to starve the left-wing extremists in the Greens of oxygen before they further poison community cohesion with their anti-Semitic actions. Mr Albanese was right to stand in parliament with Peter Dutton to jointly denounce Greens leader Adam Bandt and his party over its protest actions on Israel and the war in Gaza. But his actions since then have fallen short.

The latest outrage is the misrepresentation by the Greens of Australia’s defence relationship with Israel. The Greens have been promoting anti-Semitic feelings in the community with claims that Australia is supplying arms for the war in Gaza. Two things must be made clear. First, Australia is free to trade with a fellow democracy and expect, as Israel has, that it will operate within international laws. Second, the claims being made by the Greens are an outrageous slur that have been called out by Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy.

In an interview on ABC Radio National, Mr Conroy identified the Greens’ accusations for what they were: a confected attempt to introduce a boycott of Israeli and Jewish businesses, something that is not government policy. In addition, the claims being made by the Greens have no foundation. Far from supplying arms to Israel to be used in the Gaza conflict, a $917m contract between the Australian Army and Israeli company Elbit Systems is for the purchase, not supply, of defence equipment.

As Mr Conroy explained, the Australian Army is contracted with Hanwha Defence Australia to build infantry fighting vehicles. “Even if it flows through the supply chain to Elbit from Hanwha, that is money to build army vehicles for the Australian Army in Australia. The Greens are saying that this is supplying arms to Israel, which is incorrect and continues to be incorrect,” Mr Conroy said. The defence contract has been held up by the Greens as evidence that Australia is “complicit in genocide” and supported the “slaughter” by the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza. It is an outrageous claim followed up by public acts that should disqualify the Greens from their privileged position in federal parliament. Equally troubling, however, is the admission by Defence Minister Richard Marles that he has been enforcing a veto on military dealings with Israel since the war in Gaza began. Mr Marles has been alerted to every potential shipment to Israel under federal rules and cracking down on approvals, regardless of the value of the proposed support. This puts us apart from our major allies and confirms suspicions the Albanese government has been willing to play domestic politics with the Middle East situation.

As we editorialised on Monday, following the Greens’ refusal to endorse a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, working to ensure the Greens lose as many of their four lower house seats and 11 Senate seats as possible would serve the nation’s economic and social interests. As the world celebrated the rescue of four Israeli hostages in Gaza, Mr Bandt again showed his true colours on Sunday at a Free Palestine rally in Melbourne. He demanded the government slap Israel with sanctions, expel the Israeli ambassador and join South Africa in its case against Israel in the International Criminal Court for genocide. Voters have shown where they stand. With the Greens called out for stoking anti-Semitic protests over the Gaza war, the party’s vote fell two points in Newspoll to 11 per cent, its lowest since September 2022 and more than a point down on its election result of 12.2 per cent.

Mr Albanese must demonstrate he is serious about defusing the mischief being stoked by the Greens and the support they give to misinformed university protests. The fact al-Qa’ida’s central leadership has embraced the university protests as an extension of its support for the “assassination and beheading of Zionist unbelievers” is all that needs to be said. Mr Albanese made some welcome comments following the rescue of four hostages by Israeli forces from Gaza but he continues to sit on the fence when it comes to action. To deliver on his responsibilities, Mr Albanese must refuse to accept the balance-of-power vote held by the Greens in the Senate for the remainder of this parliament. He must also join with the Coalition to put the Greens last on how-to-vote cards at the next election, as John Howard did with One Nation at the height of that party’s racial disruptions in 2001.