Anti-Israel resolutions, violence mar Labor conference
As protesters banged on the doors, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was moved to a far side of the room for her own safety. "No one should be cowed by these bullies," she posted on X.
A SLATE of anti-Israel motions – including a pledge to increase funding to the Hamas-infiltrated UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – passed to rousing cheers at the Victorian ALP’s state conference last weekend, drawing condemnation from Jewish community leadership.
The conference was marred by violence when some 200 pro-Palestinian protesters blockaded the Moonee Valley Racecourse venue, forcing a lockdown. Federal MP Daniel Mulino was jostled by protesters shouting he had “blood on his hands”. MP Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah later told a Jewish community event she’d been to the conference and spoke to Mulino. “He was shaken, his glasses had been broken.”
Outside the venue, Trade Unions for Palestine, including independent Senator Lidia Thorpe and Victorian Greens MP Tim Read, gave speeches after which some 100 protesters pushed against a security barrier, many surging onto the premises, trampling a security guard. Sources told The AJN there was anger at the non-Labor politicians’ conduct in crashing the event.
As protesters banged on the doors, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was moved to a far side of the room for her own safety. “No one should be cowed by these bullies,” she posted on X.
The Israel motions included immediate recognition of “Palestine as a fully independent sovereign state”; ending “the perpetual military occupation”; boosting government funding for UNRWA; removal of all West Bank settlements and outlawing any private funding from Australia; scrapping a 2022 memorandum of understanding between the Victorian government and Israel’s Defence Ministry; and an “immediate release of all hostages and political prisoners”.
Hundreds cheered when the motions overwhelmingly passed. Two speakers against the motions – Nick Dyrenfurth and Garth Head – were heckled. However, the ALP’s right bloc walked out.
Contacted by The AJN about the motions passed at her state’s party conference, Allan said, “Foreign policy should be left to the federal government because Australia must speak in one voice on the world stage. My priority as the state’s Premier is maintaining a cohesive society where all Victorians are safe and respected.”
Describing the motions as triggers for “division and hurt”, Macnamara MP Josh Burns told The AJN, “Despite my best efforts to work with other delegates to find common ground, no agreement was made.” However, the motions, while reflecting rank-and-file opinion, would have “no influence on foreign policy”.
The conference “could have passed motions recognising the complexities of the conflict”, he said. “Instead they chose to grandstand on issues they have no control over.”
Stating “Bob Hawke would turn in his grave,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim noted, “These resolutions have left a moral stain on the Victorian branch of the ALP which will long be remembered.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said, “This kind of grandstanding and hatred does nothing for social cohesion. It pushes Victorians further apart.”
Zionism Victoria executive director Zeddy Lawrence said the ALP “should focus on tackling the violent and unruly behaviour of anti-Israel activists who continue to disrupt life for law-abiding Victorians”.
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the resolutions “highlight how far the party has distanced itself from its heritage as a party which helped facilitate Israel’s creation under Herbert ‘Doc’ Evatt, and which later made friendship with the Jewish state a core tradition”.
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