Peter Dutton tells Anthony Albanese: put Adam Bandt’s Greens party last

Peter Dutton has called on the PM to preference the Greens last, saying he must back hard-hitting criticism of the minor party with meaningful action.

Peter Dutton, right, has called on Anthony Albanese, left, to preference the Greens, led by Adam Bandt, centre, last on Labor how-to-vote cards at the next election.

Peter Dutton has called on Anthony Albanese to reject the anti-Semitism “flourishing within the Greens political party” and put its candidates last on Labor how-to-vote cards at the next election.

After joining the Prime Minister this week in condemning the Greens for “pouring fuel on the fire” of social division and anti-Semitism, the Opposition Leader shifted greater responsibility on to the government for allowing fear to “fester” within the Jewish community.

In an interview with The Australian on the second anniversary of his becoming Opposition Leader, Mr Dutton said protesters chanting hateful slogans – including “from the river to the sea” and promoting “intifada” – had been “allowed to coexist on the Prime Minister’s watch”.

He doubled down on his criticism of the Greens, saying they were an anti-Semitic party – a claim strongly refuted by Adam Bandt – with Mr Dutton branding the minor party leader a “radical … unworthy of public office”.

“I think the Prime Minister should join our commitment to put the Greens last at this election,” Mr Dutton said. “Should the Greens be condemned for encouraging these extremists? Yes. And it is absolutely appropriate to condemn them, and I join the Prime Minister in doing that.”

Mr Dutton warned that Labor could “form government” with the Greens in the event of a hung parliament, demanding in question time the Prime Minister rule out any governing coalition.

“If the Prime Minister has any strength of leadership, the call that he must make is that the Labor Party will preference the Greens last at the next election,” Mr Dutton told The Australian. “Anti-Semitism, for which we should have zero tolerance, is flourishing within the Greens political party and that the Prime Minister could go into minority government with them would make a complete mockery of every statement he has made.”

Pressed in parliament, Mr Albanese said preferences were a matter for the party organisation and Labor would not be “taking lectures from the mob who want to preference One Nation”.

He provided an assurance there were no plans to govern in partnership with the Greens or anyone else, declaring “we seek, as the Australian Labor Party, to govern by ourselves”.

“The Australian Labor Party proudly does not govern in coalition with any political party, nor will we in the future,” he said.

Mr Albanese said the only political coalition was that between the Liberals and Nationals. He said that when it was last in government, the Coalition had “refused to publish” the governing agreement between both parties.

Mr Bandt on Thursday also hit back at the accusations levelled against the minor party, and threatened legal action over claims the Greens were “encouraging” violence at pro-Palestinian protests outside MPs’ offices.

“The Greens condemn anti-Semitism. The Greens condemn Islamophobia. And the Greens condemn the invasion of Gaza,” he said. “They (the government) made a series of outrageous accusations, attempting to link the Greens to certain events that have happened at electorate offices.”

Mr Dutton said he wanted stronger leadership from Mr Albanese, warning that the Prime Minister had taken too soft an approach to demonstrators over several weeks. “I understand the Prime Minister’s passion and desire in wanting to protect MPs and their staff. But … these same people with their hate-filled chants of ‘river to the sea’ and ‘intifada’ have been tolerated for weeks now.

“All of these radicals have been allowed to coexist on the Prime Minister’s watch.

“There are people in the Jewish community now who are living in fear and afraid as they drop their children off at school. And the Prime Minister has allowed that to fester, and allowed these groups to continue on essentially unhindered for months since October.

“In all my quarter of a century in politics I have never seen such fear in the Jewish community, and I don’t think in our lifetime have we seen the fear within a particular segment of our community that we are seeing now.”

Mr Dutton cited former prime minister John Howard’s example in 2000 when he committed the Liberals to putting One Nation last on Liberal how-to-vote cards because of its divisive policies.

Mr Albanese continued his political assault on the Greens in parliament on Thursday, after the minor party’s housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, accused Labor of supporting Israeli company Elbit Systems, which he said was one of the “largest suppliers of the Israeli military as it carries out a genocide in Gaza”.

Mr Chandler-Mather asked why the government would not cancel a $917m contract with Elbit Systems, but Mr Albanese accused him of promoting misinformation.

“It is a fact that there have been no weapons or ammunition exported to Israel in the last five years,” he said. “That information was confirmed in Senate estimates.

“Just this week Defence officials confirmed that recent data published by DFAT referring to the export of arms to Israel in February refers to the export of a single item for the Australian Defence Force that will return to Australia once it’s fixed.

“It is beyond my comprehension why anyone in this place would seek to suggest that Australia were participants in a conflict when we are not … when we have called repeatedly, repeatedly, for a ceasefire.”

The Prime Minister accused the Greens of trying to weaponise the reality that Australia was one of about 18 nations – alongside Norway, Canada and The Netherlands – that operated the F-35 fighter jet and contributed to its global supply chain.

“They seek in a divisive way to raise these issues in order to then weaponise them and cause division in the Australian community,” Mr Albanese said.

Earlier in the day, Labor shut down a parliamentary debate on the Coalition’s push to establish a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses after NSW Liberal MP Julian Leeser attempted to suspend standing orders on Thursday morning to bring on a vote.