Having nothing to say on Donald Trump’s Gaza takeover plan doesn’t cut it, Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese’s refusal to offer a sufficient response to Donald Trump’s latest crazy idea demonstrates the state of paralysis that Labor is in over how to deal with the rapidly changing world under the US President.
The Prime Minister has yet to get a grip on how to handle the unpredictability Trump brings.
On news of Trump’s threat to relocate Palestinians and launch a US takeover of Gaza as a solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict, Albanese was asked a simple and obvious question.
What did he think?
Albanese may well have been one of the first Western world leaders to have been asked the question by a press pack considering the time zone. But this is hardly an excuse for not having prepared a credible response.
“I’ve said before that I don’t intend to have a running commentary on the President of the United States’ statements,” the Prime Minister said. “What I would say is that Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year and it was 10 years ago and it was under the Howard government. The Australian government supports, on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution in the Middle East.”
Clearly Albanese will have a view, as will every world leader. And his view would presumably be that it is madness. That’s not to suggest the Prime Minister should express such a view or in those terms. But a more considered response other than the vacuous and slippery one given was required considering the magnitude of what Trump was proposing.
Having nothing to say doesn’t cut the mustard.
The reiteration of Australia’s position on a two-state solution was insufficient for a number of reasons.
The PM would surely be aware that Trump’s announcement will not be without potential consequence for Australia.
Forget the obvious problems with international law, the rights of Palestinians or the abandonment of America’s long-held objection to colonialism. And never mind how it might conflict with Australia’s new position on an accelerated statehood for Palestine.
In Albanese’s defence, no one on the Coalition side had anything more courageous or coherent to say in response either.
With anti-Semitism running rampant in Australia, Trump’s statement has the potential to inflame community tensions even further. If this occurs, Albanese will not be able to maintain the stonewalling for long. It may also become unsustainable internally, if the left finds its voice on this.
Albanese is making a habit of not answering questions that may be uncomfortable. It is a theme the opposition has latched on to in its attempt to expand its charge that Albanese is not only a weak leader but now an evasive one.
Albanese’s refusal to engage on anything Trump says goes to a deeper problem. Labor has failed to pivot to the new world under Trump, whether it be tariffs or energy or now the Middle East.
It has also exposed Albanese’s formulaic media management style and begs the question as to what is the new criteria for prime ministerial comment.
What if Trump proposed to take over Cape York Peninsula to build a space station? Would the PM be compelled to comment?
Albanese’s refusal to engage is unsustainable. It is not a position he will be able to maintain during an election campaign.
The US President is a leader who needs to be taken if not literally then at least taken seriously.
Albanese’s dismissal of questions about Trump’s proposal, as extreme as it may be, could easily be interpreted as not taking him seriously enough.
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