We’ll let our people decide on Labor, Islamic leaders say

The nation’s peak Islamic body says it is unlikely to provide formal endorsement for pro-Palestine candidates as the Coalition heaps pressure on Labor to end preference deals with the Greens.

Protesters march through central Melbourne on Sunday. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The nation’s peak Islamic body says it is unlikely to provide formal endorsement for pro-Palestine candidates but would “seek to inform the community of the choices available”, as the Coalition ramps up pressure on Labor to end preference deals with the Greens over the left-wing party’s stance on Hamas.

With senior ministers in western Sydney likely to face challenges from pro-Palestine candidates and a popular local mayor at the next election, political experts warn last week’s British poll shows seats with a high number of Muslim voters are at risk of falling to independents.

Strategists warned organisations including The Muslim Vote, which is this week expected to announce the candidates it will endorse, could gain support from not only progressives but also Liberals casting a “tactical vote” to oust Labor MPs.

A spokesman for The Muslim Vote said its candidates would campaign on a wide-range of policy areas “from Palestine and local issues”, with the electoral threat given more prominence last week after West Australian senator Fatima Payman left the ALP over its stance on Gaza. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Rateb Jneid said the body had been in contact with The Muslim Vote, backing the group’s objective of “encouraging all Muslims to actively participate in the political process”.

Fatima Payman. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

But Mr Jneid said until The Muslim Vote revealed the candidates it would back, “we can make no comment on what AFIC’s position will be”. “(It is) unlikely that AFIC would preference any candidates above another,” he said. “Rather … we would seek to inform the community about the voices available”.

Education Minister Jason Clare, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke, Industry Minister Ed Husic and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen are among senior government MPs who ould be targeted by pro-Palestinian candidates.

The Weekend Australian revealed Mr Bowen also faces a more potent threat, with popular independent Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone considering running against him at the next election. Mr Carbone said he was seeking to recruit a network of independent candidates to contest Labor-held seats across western Sydney.

The Fairfield mayor and federal independent Dai Le, who defeated Kristina Keneally in Fowler at the last election, last week formally registered the Frank Carbone Western Sydney Community party.

“(Labor) has done nothing for the area,” Mr Carbone said.

With the Coalition vowing to not preference pro-Palestine candidates in western Sydney, Labor is facing pressure to do the same with the Greens over their stance on Israel and the war in Gaza.

Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi on Sunday refused to say whether she believed Hamas should be dismantled and described pro-Palestinian vandalism on the Australian War Memorial as “some paint on a building”.

Senator Faruqi was asked on five occasions whether she believed Hamas should be dismantled, but said Hamas had “nothing to do with recognising Palestinian statehood” and questioning “who would even dismantle it?”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Senator Faruqi’s comments showed it was time “for Anthony Albanese to end Labor preference deals with the Greens”.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten played down the threat from pro-Palestinian independents taking advice from the so-called preference whisperer Glenn Druery.

“The Senate’s littered with people who’ve taken advice from Glenn Druery. Sometimes they get up, ultimately they flame out,” he told Sky News.

Redbridge Group director and former Labor strategist Kos Samaras said the Albanese government faced “a significant portion of preferences” from the left of politics going to candidates backed by The Muslim Vote, while some traditional Liberal voters would throw their support behind the independents purely to oust Labor incumbents.

“This has the potential of being as much of a distraction to Labor as the teals were to the ­Coalition,” he said.

The risk to major parties posed by pro-Palestinian independents was showcased in last week’s British election, which saw Labour lose five seats to candidates staunchly opposed to Israel, including the party’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Samaras said the British results showed diverse communities, including the Pakistanis and Indians, backing the pro-Palestinian cause. “This will become about more than just the Muslim vote … there’s a huge amount of solidarity,” he said.

The Coalition is also putting pressure on Labor over the number of Palestinians seeking asylum in Australia after arriving on tourist visas. Home Affairs figures revealed that 119 asylum-seeker applications were lodged in May from people from the Palestinian territories, the majority having come from Gaza, bringing the total number of claims since the October attack to 416.

There were more than 2300 asylum-seeker claims in total in May – the highest monthly total since Labor was elected – and more than 6700 claims in the last three months.