‘No guarantees’ on future Hamas role in Gaza, says Penny Wong

Penny Wong has refused to say whether the government’s decision to back Palestinian membership of the UN was approved by the federal cabinet.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong fronts a Senate estimates hearing with her departmental secretary, Jan Adams. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Penny Wong has refused to say whether the government’s decision to back Palestinian membership of the UN was approved by the federal cabinet, or guarantee that Australia will withhold recognition of a ­Palestinian state if Hamas retains a governance role in Gaza.

In a fiery Senate estimates hearing on Monday, the Foreign Min­ister accused the Greens of “collaborating” with violent pro-Palestine protesters, and hit out at the opposition over its suggestion Australia withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

She also revealed the government would block “extremist” Israeli settlers from visiting Australia, matching US and UK travel bans.

Senator Wong said Australia’s May 10 vote backing Palestine’s membership of the UN “was a decision with some weight”, and followed consultation with colleagues “at the highest levels” including Anthony Albanese and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.

She said the government didn’t comment on what went to cabinet, and ultimately “the instruction for the vote is given by the Foreign Minister”.

The motion Australia supported with 142 other countries declared “the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter of the United Nations and should, therefore, be admitted to membership”.

But senior officials confirmed Palestine had not met the conditions of UN membership because it did not have the backing of the UN Security Council.

Senator Wong said Australia’s precondition for recognition was whether it would advance the cause of a two-state solution.

She said “final status” issues also needed to be settled, including the status of Jerusalem and the final borders of a future state.

Under questioning by opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham, Senator Wong said Australia’s position was that Hamas should not play a part in a future Palestinian state and Israel’s security should be assured in any decision on Palestinian statehood.

“I’ve said that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. We see no role for them,” she said. But she refused to say unequivocally that Australia would deny support for a Palestinian state if Hamas remained in some form. “I’m not going to be drawn into that,” she said.

Senator Birmingham said later that Senator Wong’s failure to rule out Hamas’ involvement in a future Palestinian state was “alarming”.

“Labor should be able to explicitly rule out recognition where Hamas remains in any governing role, and their failure to do so will rightly concern many,” he said.

Under questioning by Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, Senator Wong and her departmental officials also declined to say whether the government believes Israel is breaching international law in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Senator Steele-John accused the government of “breathtaking” double standards in its failure to sanction Israel over its conduct.

Senator Wong said it was the Greens that were guilty of hypocrisy. “You want to talk about double standards? The double standard is you and your party participating in protests which have become violent and aggressive. Greens MPs speaking outside of rallies, which then ­invade and intimidate people at Labor Party state conferences.”

Senator Wong also blasted Peter Dutton, warning “recklessly threatening to pull out of the bodies that uphold international law” would undermine Australia’s ability to hold China to account for its flouting of global rules in the South China Sea. “That kind of talk may seem tough to some, but it undermines Australia’s core security interests,” she said.