Labor staffer Bruce Hartnett bids party farewell over Israel

An ALP life member and former staffer says he cannot support the government after Penny Wong’s positioning on Israel and Gaza.

Bruce Hartnett is quitting his party in defence of Israel. Picture: The Australian/Nadir Kinani

Bruce Hartnett spent the better part of his life funding and campaigning for the ALP, until now.

For more than six decades, Mr Hartnett lived and breathed Labor – until he felt betrayed by the Albanese government’s stance on Israel, which shattered his trust in the party’s core values.

From his early days in Young Labor to his contributions as a long-time financial supporter and adviser, Mr Hartnett’s commitment to the ALP defined much of his life.

But now, at 77, that bond has been broken.

In a searing letter to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, the life member and former staffer said he cannot support the government after Senator Wong’s position on Israel.

“I apologise for the tone of this letter but as a near-60-year member of the ALP I am, for the first time, ashamed of my membership,” he writes.

“And for the first time in my life I will not be campaigning for the ALP at the federal election.”

Mr Hartnett previously served as the head of the Victorian Public Sector Commission, a body that oversees the public service and statutory corporations, shaping policies and providing crucial oversight across the state.

Although he considers Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus as a personal friend, he blamed Anthony Albanese and the foreign minister for destroying Australia’s long, rich history and relationship with Israel.

Bruce Hartnett: central to his frustration is Labor’s vote in favour of an unconditional ceasefire at the United Nations, without demanding the release of hostages as a precondition. Picture: The Australian/Nadir Kinani

It was a bond that spanned generations, tracing its roots back to figures like HV ‘Doc’ Evatt, Arthur Calwell and Bob Hawke. Historical ties that were forged during key moments in Australia’s post-war history that facilitated the migration of Jews from the displacement camps of Europe.

“You have single-handedly destroyed all of this,” he wrote in his letter to Senator Wong.

“With your words creating an equivalence between the actions of Israel in Gaza and [Vladimir] Putin’s invasion of Ukraine you have not only distorted history, you have encouraged anti-Semitism in Australia.”

Central to his frustration was Labor’s vote in favour of an unconditional ceasefire at the United Nations, without demanding the release of hostages as a precondition.

Mr Hartnett described the decision as an outright rejection of the party’s historical commitment to standing with Israel in its fight for survival.

“Fortunately Israel did not listen to you or the UN. Events in Lebanon and Syria since the Israeli assault on Hezbollah have shown just how foolish your policy of appeasement was.”

The personal nature of Mr Hartnett’s decision to dump Labor was underscored by the fact that his own family has been directly affected by the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia.

Although he is not Jewish, his wife is Jewish by descent.

Bruce Hartnett was formerly head of the Victorian Public Sector Commission. Picture: The Australian/Nadir Kinani

His daughter, who recently moved from Thornbury to Caulfield, was forced to leave a community in the Melbourne suburb of Darebin because of growing hostility.

The Darebin Council’s decision to fly the Palestinian flag in place of the Indigenous flag, he argues, was a symbol of a larger cultural shift that has been fuelled by the words and actions of the Albanese government.

“Your words have not done anything for peace in the Middle East. But they have done much to break a 75-year positive relationship between the ALP and the Australian Jewish community,” Mr Hartnett writes.

“Your words will mean the Jewish community will not vote for or financially support the ALP as they have done historically.

“Melbourne was, in the post-WWII period, the city with the highest number of Holocaust refugees per capita in the world. Thanks to Arthur Calwell [a former Labor immigration minister] and his Bundist friend.

“You have trashed this proud history.”

“Why?

“In pursuit of narrow political benefit in the forthcoming federal election? Or seeking plaudits in the politically corrupt UN?”