Peter Dutton lashes Anthony Albanese for not speaking against a Greens motion condemning Israel
Peter Dutton has criticised Anthony Albanese for failing to speak against a Greens motion condemning Israel.
Peter Dutton has criticised Anthony Albanese for failing to speak against a Greens motion condemning Israel, accusing him of not demonstrating support for Australia’s Jewish community in parliament.
Greens leader Adam Bandt on Wednesday suspended standing orders to move a motion noting the “appalling and increasing toll of deaths and injuries caused by the State of Israel’s bombing and invasion of Gaza” and calling on the government to end its support for Israel’s invasion.
The Opposition Leader said the motion was anti-Semitic and questioned why the Prime Minister had not been in the House of Representatives to condemn it.
“The fact is that the Prime Minister of our country should be standing here and showing the strength of leadership in support of the Jewish community here in Australia against this appalling motion,” he said.
“We need to point out that the Greens here – and they are not ashamed of it – have shown anti-Semitic conduct at a state level and here in the federal parliament on a daily basis. Not called out by the Labor Party, because the Labor Party is trying to walk both sides of the street.”
Many cabinet ministers and Labor MPs – including Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke and Defence Minister Richard Marles – were not in the house to vote, but were not required to do so because the division was a “mickey division”.
A mickey division occurs when both major parties vote against a minor party, and so only some MPs are required to vote to enable the count to occur more expeditiously.
However, Victorian Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou confirmed with The Australian she had decided to abstain from the vote, while teal MPs Kate Chaney and Monique Ryan also abstained.
The motion was debated as hundreds of protesters amassed outside parliament calling on the government to condemn Israel and restart funding to UNRWA, the peak aid body in Palestine.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe was among those protesting, after putting her own private member’s bill to parliament that would strip attorneys-general of their power to prevent the prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Australian courts.
Senator Thorpe said Mr Albanese had done “the bare minimum” to support a ceasefire and needed to do more – such as implementing arms embargoes on Israel – to stop the conflict.
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