Anthony Albanese’s shifting positions on the Middle East conflict and homegrown extremism reflect a leader who seems unable to bring Australians together, impose the rule-of-law and respect longstanding foreign policy bipartisanship.
Following appalling scenes in Sydney, Melbourne and at university campuses across the country following Hamas’ October 7 massacre of Israelis, the Albanese government has been consistently frozen by inertia.
Albanese and his ministers have been flat-footed in response to ugly flare-ups of Australians’ publicly supporting Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism, and the Greens’ toxic and politically motivated rhetoric. In many cases, action is taken only after intervention by Jewish leaders, premiers and the Coalition.
Under pressure from Labor’s left flank, the Greens and fear of losing support in traditionally safe ALP seats with high numbers of Muslim voters, the government has split from the US and other Western allies on Israel in the United Nations.
Albanese’s decision on Monday to announce a special envoy to combat Islamophobia – at a time of anger over Hezbollah supporters taking to the streets – was poorly judged and raises questions over why the role even exists.
While Labor ministers on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to hostilities in Lebanon and Gaza, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Iran to not intervene and endorsed Israel dismantling Hezbollah’s military sites on the southern Lebanese border. With tens of thousands of Israeli citizens unable to return home since Hezbollah began firing missiles after October 7, the stand-off was always going to end with military action by the IDF.
Peter Dutton – a former policeman, and defence and home affairs minister – is leading Coalition attacks on Albanese and Labor ministers over their handling of domestic and foreign flashpoints, urging voters to back strength over timidity.
On October 7 last year, hours after Hamas terrorists murdered and took hostage Israelis, Penny Wong urged “the exercise of restraint and protection of civilian lives”. Wong, who months after the 2022 election provocatively reversed the Morrison government’s recognition of West Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital, delivered a UN speech last week declaring that a timeline be set for an international declaration of a Palestinian state. The speech coincided with Israel taking out Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a terrorist who murdered thousands of Lebanese, Israeli, US and Arab civilians.
Albanese is struggling to prove his pledge to voters ahead of the 2022 election that there was not a cigarette paper difference between Labor and the Coalition on national security, foreign policy and immigration.
After ASIO director-general Mike Burgess in August raised the terror threat level to probable, an attack in Australia is now an imminent risk. People-smugglers are back and Labor has been mired in rolling immigration scandals.
ALP figures are concerned the government is falling too far behind on national security and economic management. Albanese’s ham-fisted handling of revelations the government asked Treasury for negative gearing modelling and poor media performances in recent weeks have some Labor elders concerned the Prime Minister and key ministers have run out of ideas.
The optics for Albanese are poor and he is running out of time ahead of a potential March election. The 61-year-old, who entered federal parliament in 1996, is leading what looks increasingly like a tired, third-term government.
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