Jewish MP Mike Freelander defends Penny Wong
'We do need to continue our strong support of Israel, but we also need to acknowledge local sensitivities and local considerations,' Member for Macarthur says
Jewish Labor MP Mike Freelander voiced strong support for Foreign Minister Penny Wong to The AJN last week, despite acknowledging criticism of her performance from within the Jewish community.
“I think Penny is steering a very positive course,” Freelander, who represents the electorate of Macarthur in Sydney’s southwest, said last Friday. “She recognises that we can’t see Hamas in a position of power, that will not lead to any form of peaceful resolution.”
While noting that foreign policy “needs to be independent and based on long term alliances”, Freelander said the Jewish community needs to be “more realistic” about the significant Muslim population in Australia and their political importance.
“We do need to continue our strong support of Israel, but we also need to acknowledge local sensitivities and local considerations,” he said.
“That’s where I think Penny is doing the right thing. We can’t ignore the fact that we have a lot of people who are very engaged in what happens in the Middle East.”
Freelander, who has represented Macarthur since 2016, said he hasn’t personally experienced antisemitism within his electorate despite the national surge following October 7, 2023. While describing the current level of antisemitism as the worst in his lifetime, he said he maintains strong relationships with local Muslim communities.
“Twelve per cent of my electorate is Muslim,” noted Freelander. “I don’t tell them just what they want to hear. I’m honest about my opinion.”
On the government’s record against antisemitism, he said, “The government is doing very well, but that is not to deny there may have been some missteps and some delay in acting as the situation was evolving.”
Addressing the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s 15-point antisemitism plan, Freelander said, “There may be some nuances that we need to be dealing with. But … I think the government will ultimately come on board with it.”
He was openly critical about the Greens, describing the party as having “lurched so far to the left” that its relationship with Labor is “very much decimated”.
He particularly condemned the Greens’ stance on the Middle East conflict as “diametrically opposed” to his views, and firmly rejected working with them in a potential minority government scenario.
“We certainly would not agree to their position or support it in any way,” he said.
But despite his criticism of the Greens broadly, Freelander revealed he is preferencing the local Greens candidate second in his own electorate, noting she is “an old patient of mine” who is “much less rigid than her leader”.
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