Labor under pressure over Greens preferences

The Coalition has demanded Labor rule out preference deals with the Greens, after Adam Bandt failed to endorse a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

Greens leader Adam Bandt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Coalition has demanded Labor rule out preference deals with the Greens at the next election, after Adam Bandt failed to endorse a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine while equivocating whether Hamas should be listed as a terror organisation.

Mr Bandt’s comments on Israel and Hamas were condemned by Labor and the Coalition, while a leading Jewish group accused him of being a “friend of terrorists”.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said it was a “new low, even for Adam Bandt and the Greens”.

“The offensiveness and extreme nature of these remarks should see Anthony Albanese rule out future preferencing of the Greens so that Labor no longer helps to put such views in parliament,” Senator Birmingham said.

With polls showing a hung parliament is a possibility at the next election, Mr Bandt revealed he would outline his conditions ahead of the poll to support a Labor-minority government.

“We will push for them to stop opening new coal and gas mines,” Mr Bandt told the ABC.

He also accused Labor and the Coalition of blaming migrants for the housing crisis, but would not say if the Greens supported cutting migration levels.

While the Greens have been fiercely critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza following the October 7 terror attack, Mr Bandt on Sunday fell short of backing a two-state solution that included a sovereign Jewish state.

He said he supported both Israelis and Palestinians “having their rights to self determination under international law” but would not explicitly say if this amounted to a backing of two sovereign states.

When asked if he supported two states, Mr Bandt — who will move a motion in parliament this week to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state — said it was a matter to be worked out between Israel and Palestine.

“If that’s what they choose to self-determine, then that’s what they choose to self-determine,” he said.

“Our point is that it is the international community can no longer pretend that the slaughter and the invasion is not happening.”

When asked if he agreed that Hamas should be listed as a terror organisation by the Australian government, Mr Bandt said: “It’s just a fact. They’re listed as a terror organisation”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Mr Bandt “could not express support for a Palestinian state alongside Israel instead of in place of it”.

“He could not classify as terrorists the depraved jihadists who just slaughtered, tortured and raped civilians before our eyes,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“Bandt has just revealed that he leads a party that is the friend of terrorists and the foe of democracy, and which feels a greater affinity for violent religious fundamentalists than the states that resist them.

“He now leads the most extreme party in our parliament.”

Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts said the Greens had “nothing of substance to say about ending the cycle of violence and achieving lasting peace”.

“Anyone who is serious about peace knows that requires a two-state solution — a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel,” he said.

With the Greens traditionally split on migration policy due to some environmentalists being opposed to population growth, Mr Bandt will refuse all the way until the election to say what the net migration intake should be.

“I’m going to give you a yes or a no,” he said, when asked if he supported cutting migration.

“Labor and Liberal are engaged in a migrant-bashing race to the bottom as a distraction from the real issues facing this country.

“Every time that there is a cost of living crisis, the rich and powerful turnaround and blame migrants.”