Anthony Albanese’s belated condemnation of the Greens’ support for pro-Palestinian protesters on university campuses and outside MPs’ electorate offices and his decision to call out deliberate, calculated and divisive misinformation has hit a reality wall.
The Prime Minister has ducked for cover, avoided the hard questions and demonised the Greens without saying he won’t sup with the devil.
The reality is not the legal threat of Greens leader Adam Bandt against Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, nor the tortuous – fallacious – claims of Australia supplying arms to bomb babies in Israel, but the cold hard reality of being in government or opposition.
A day after Peter Dutton and Albanese stood shoulder to shoulder in parliament to condemn the Greens’ posturing for political gain and defending Greens supporters in anti-Semitic campaigns, the Opposition Leader demanded Albanese follow virtue and logic to repudiate Labor’s vital connection to the minor party.
Dutton asked if Albanese would rule out relying on the Greens for minority government and whether Labor would join the Coalition in putting the Greens last on how-to-vote tickets.
Dutton’s argument is that if the Greens are spreading misinformation, undermining democratic processes, fuelling social division and obstructing the democratic works of MPs, Albanese should do more than just attack them in parliament.
If the Greens are so bad and divisive, as Labor once said One Nation was and pressed John Howard to put them last, then they should join the Coalition in putting them last on how-to-vote cards at the next election and rule out forming a minority government with them.
The reality here, of course, is that there’s almost a score of Labor seats that rely on Greens’ preferences to be Labor seats – not to mention Greens seats that rely on ALP preferences to be Greens seats – and if Labor’s electoral trajectory remains as it is then Albanese will be forced to negotiate with cross benchers to form a minority government.
“I think the Prime Minister should join our commitment to put the Greens last at this election. The Greens are now an anti-Semitic party led by a radical Adam Bandt who is unworthy of public office,” Dutton told The Australian.
Dutton asked in parliament whether Albanese would also rule out forming a coalition with the Greens.
Albanese ducked both issues, hid behind the parliamentary veil that it was a “matter for the ALP organisation” and left Greens dead cat on the table. Dutton declared: “That 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.”
For months, Labor lacked the clear repudiation of the rise of anti-Semitism and defence of Israel after Penny Wong had called for “restraint” from Israel just after the horrific Hamas terror attacks on October 7.
On Wednesday, Albanese’s spirited response to the Greens and coming into line with Dutton’s forthright position gave him a new level of respect, but within 24 hours he was avoiding the fundamental and logical progression of the argument.
The simple – unanswered – question for Albanese is how long can he continue to slap down the Greens with one hand and take their preference votes – and government – with the other hand?
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