Labor’s Dean Winter told to reject Greens power-sharing deal

Australia’s peak Jewish body has called on Tasmanian Labor leader Dean Winter to rule out a minority government with the Greens, as post-election negotiations begin.

Labor leader Dean Winter in Hobart on Sunday.

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The nation’s peak Jewish body has urged Tasmanian Labor leader Dean Winter to reject overtures from state Greens leader Rosemary Woodruff to help form government, after Dr Woodruff used her state election night speech to demand Israel return land to Palestinians.

Labor is on course to secure fewer than 12 of the 35 seats in the state’s Legislative Assembly, but Mr Winter has not conceded defeat.

On Sunday, he said he had “opened the lines of communication” with the crossbench, whose support he will need more than Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff, who is on track to win around 15 seats.

Yet Mr Winter has repeatedly ruled out forming a government with the Greens and on Sunday renewed that commitment. “I won’t be doing any deals with the Greens,” he told reporters at a press conference in Hobart.

Tasmanian Greens leader Rosemary Woodruff urged Labor to enter coalition talks. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

The rejection of any agreement with the left-wing minor party comes after Dr Woodruff on Saturday reiterated her desire to enter discussions with Labor in a bid to prevent Mr Rockliff from retaining power.

“Yes, there are differences, but the Greens and Labor have a lot in common too,” she told a gathering of Greens party faithful in Hobart.

A Labor-Greens government in the Apple Isle would not be without precedent. After suffering a 12.4 per cent swing at the 2010 election, Labor premier David Bartlett secured a deal with Greens leader Nick McKim, allowing Labor to form a minority government.

In the same address, Dr Woodruff also condemned what she described as “genocide” being committed on the people of Gaza. “The Greens stand with the people of Palestine – for freedom, for peace and for the return of their lands,” she said.

But the prospect of a power-sharing deal with Labor drew a sharp rebuke from Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, who urged Mr Winter to steer clear of any arrangement with the Greens.

“They should be preferenced last in every election, local, state and federal, and no deals that bring them into government or into positions of power should be contemplated,” Mr Ryvchin told The Australian on Sunday.

“This would only uplift and reward a party that, more than any other, has consistently vilified Jewish Australians, destabilised our society, and endangered the police and elected officials.”

The demand mirrors a call from the ECAJ ahead of the May 3 federal election, urging both major parties to publicly commit to excluding the Greens from any role in a potential minority government and to avoid making concessions in exchange for confidence and supply.

Domestic tensions over the Israel-Hamas war spilled on to the lawns of Parliament House on Sunday, as several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered to demand the government impose fresh sanctions on Israel as the deepening humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza raises the spectre of mass starvation.

Last month, Australia joined the governments of Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom in imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions on Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

In late May, under growing international pressure, Israel began permitting a limited flow of aid into the war-torn territory, having imposed a nearly three-month blockade that caused critical shortages of food, medicine and clean water.

But those within the hunger-stricken enclave continue to face significant hurdles in accessing food and water, as the handful of Israeli backed aid distribution depots inside the Strip are frequently sites of violence – including incidents reportedly involving the Israel Defence Forces.

Arab mediators say one of the key obstacles in ceasefire negotiations is the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.