Labor played the Medicare card in its victory. Now it wants to own housing
On the back of the party's federal success in using Medicare as the centrepiece of its election campaign, Labor for Housing has been established to campaign for YIMBYism and ensure the party becomes defined by its commitment to solving the housing crisis, according to one of its founders.
Senior member of Labor left and Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said housing had to be a 'moral and political cause' for the party if it is to have any chance of solving the crisis gripping the nation.
'We have the union movement to campaign on Labor's agenda for workers' rights. We also need a grassroots movement to build popular support for Labor's solutions to the housing crisis,' he said.
'Just as Medicare is both a government policy and a Labor cause, our policies to fix the housing crisis must be supported by a concerted, grassroots, political campaign. If we want Labor's housing policies to succeed, then we need to go out into the community and advocate for them.'
Senior Labor sources, not authorised to comment on the federal campaign, were concerned the Greens managed to define themselves as the party of housing, even if the party's policies were going to do little to increase the lack of supply.
The federal government has an ambitious goal to build 1.2 million homes over the next five years to meet the chronic shortfall in supply, however, it is lagging well behind that target. NSW must build 75,000 a year over the same period to meet its target under the National Housing Accord but Premier Chris Minns has conceded his government will not achieve that.
David Borger, chair of Housing Now, an alliance of 'unlikely bedfellows' advocating for more housing, said political parties have for too long courted the anti-development vote.
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an hour ago
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We spoke to Barnaby Joyce, and this is what he had to say about net zero
When Barnaby Joyce caught up with this masthead in Parliament House last week, the former deputy prime minister was in fine form. After being relegated to the backbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Mr Joyce was clearly enjoying the attention while talking up his private member's bill to abolish Australia's climate target. The member for New England, who says Ms Ley's predecessor Peter Dutton wanted to sack him for refusing to say nuclear energy would bring down electricity prices and opposing net zero, has gone rogue with his bill - which will be top of the agenda when politicians return to Canberra in three weeks' time. It's putting a spotlight on the Coalition's longstanding divisions over climate and energy, just as Ms Ley seeks to unite the opposition after its electoral wipe-out. Mr Joyce calls the pursuit of net zero a "lunatic crusade" and wants Australia to go with the cheapest possible energy - even if that is coal - and rails against renewables like solar and "swindle factories" (wind farms). And he's not the only one, with Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie taking aim at new Western Australian Liberal leader Basil Zempilas for supporting net zero this week, ahead of Ms Ley's upcoming visit. The Albanese government is seeking to extract as much political capital as possible from the issue, even as it comes under pressure over its own climate policy ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Labor passed a procedural motion on Thursday scheduling Mr Joyce's private member's bill for debate in the House of Representatives on the first sitting day back, August 25. It was a tactical play, aimed at dialling up the pressure on Ms Ley as she grapples with the longstanding conflict among her MPs over climate. The motion was opposed by all Coalition members except for Mr Joyce. His bill seeks to dismantle the 2050 net zero target - which the Coalition supported before the election but is now reviewing - by overturning or amending climate legislation. Ms Ley sought to downplay the divisions this week while vowing to allow all views to be considered as the Coalition reviews net zero through a working group led by energy and emissions spokesperson Dan Tehan. "It's going to flesh out the different perspectives," she said. "Everything is on the table." While conservatives want to ditch the target, some moderate Liberals say that without it, the Coalition, which has been reduced to just 43 lower house seats and 27 in the Senate, cannot form a credible alternative government or win back inner-city seats lost to teal independents. Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says the "centre of gravity in Australia now is for strong targets", with the majority of civil society and business groups supporting the clean energy transition, describing Mr Joyce as a "lone voice in the community". "[His] policy position is let it rip, like let the climate crisis get as bad as it can, because we're not going to do anything about it," Ms McKenzie told this masthead. "The science shows that we can if we let climate change go unchecked, that's a $4 trillion hit to the economy. That's the death of the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland tourism industry ... Nearly 10 per cent of properties ... would be uninsurable." On Monday, One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson took up Mr Joyce's cause with an urgency motion in the Senate calling for Australia to abandon its net zero target. While it failed, Liberal senator Alex Antic and Nationals senator Matt Canavan joined One Nation's four senators and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet in voting for it. When asked if she or her office directed Liberal senators to abstain from the vote, Ms Ley said only: "We're regularly in touch with senators, and we're regularly in touch with members via the whip, via the managers of both opposition business in the House and the Senate." Senator Canavan, one of the Coalition's most vocal critics of net zero, said there was no hurry to reach an agreed position this far out from the next election, telling reporters: "We're irrelevant right now, who cares what it looks [like] right now ... It doesn't have to be neat or tidy or pretty". When asked about the comment, Mr Tehan said it was "incredibly important that we have an alternative to put to the Australian people" and that work would continue "over the next nine to 12 months". As the Coalition pursued Labor in parliamentary question time over power bill costs on Thursday, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen hit back with: "They are triggered every time we mention renewable energy." While Ms Ley seeks to mend the Coalition's climate rift, the government is pushing ahead with efforts to reduce Australia's carbon emissions through a transition to renewable energy. UN climate chief Simon Steele - who met with Mr Bowen in Canberra this week - has urged the government to "go big", saying the new target will be a "defining moment" for Australia, while Independent ACT senator David Pocock called it "the biggest test of the moral courage of the Albanese government". The Climate Council wants a commitment to slash emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035, saying this is the level required to "do our fair share to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius" - the level scientists warn will tip global warming into catastrophic and irreversible territory - while the Greens say anything less would breach the Paris Agreement. Ms McKenzie said Australia had for years been a pariah on the international stage when it came to climate, but that things were turning around. "It was embarrassing to go to these international negotiations and say you're Australian ... But that has changed substantially," she said. READ MORE: "If there's a trade negotiation, we should be in the room. And the only way to get in the room is to have skin in the game ... You only have skin in the game in climate if you are acting, then you have credibility." Mr Bowen told the ABC: "We'll be setting our target in terms of our national interest, what's good for Australia, what comes out of the modelling as the right balance [and] as the Climate Change Act demands, [with] consideration of the science and all the evidence before us." The CSIRO, which this week released its annual GenCost report for 2024-25, says firm renewables backed by transmission are the lowest-cost new form of electricity generation technology, while small modular nuclear reactors are the most expensive. The Coalition is yet to decide if it wants to retain the policy Mr Dutton took to the election to build nuclear power plants to meet Australia's energy needs, but wants to lift the moratorium on nuclear as a starting point. When asked by Mr Tehan if the government would meet its target of achieving 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target, Mr Bowen said it took "some temerity from those opposite to ask this side of the house about meeting our targets, when they can't agree on whether they have a target". When Barnaby Joyce caught up with this masthead in Parliament House last week, the former deputy prime minister was in fine form. After being relegated to the backbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Mr Joyce was clearly enjoying the attention while talking up his private member's bill to abolish Australia's climate target. The member for New England, who says Ms Ley's predecessor Peter Dutton wanted to sack him for refusing to say nuclear energy would bring down electricity prices and opposing net zero, has gone rogue with his bill - which will be top of the agenda when politicians return to Canberra in three weeks' time. It's putting a spotlight on the Coalition's longstanding divisions over climate and energy, just as Ms Ley seeks to unite the opposition after its electoral wipe-out. Mr Joyce calls the pursuit of net zero a "lunatic crusade" and wants Australia to go with the cheapest possible energy - even if that is coal - and rails against renewables like solar and "swindle factories" (wind farms). And he's not the only one, with Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie taking aim at new Western Australian Liberal leader Basil Zempilas for supporting net zero this week, ahead of Ms Ley's upcoming visit. The Albanese government is seeking to extract as much political capital as possible from the issue, even as it comes under pressure over its own climate policy ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Labor passed a procedural motion on Thursday scheduling Mr Joyce's private member's bill for debate in the House of Representatives on the first sitting day back, August 25. It was a tactical play, aimed at dialling up the pressure on Ms Ley as she grapples with the longstanding conflict among her MPs over climate. The motion was opposed by all Coalition members except for Mr Joyce. His bill seeks to dismantle the 2050 net zero target - which the Coalition supported before the election but is now reviewing - by overturning or amending climate legislation. Ms Ley sought to downplay the divisions this week while vowing to allow all views to be considered as the Coalition reviews net zero through a working group led by energy and emissions spokesperson Dan Tehan. "It's going to flesh out the different perspectives," she said. "Everything is on the table." While conservatives want to ditch the target, some moderate Liberals say that without it, the Coalition, which has been reduced to just 43 lower house seats and 27 in the Senate, cannot form a credible alternative government or win back inner-city seats lost to teal independents. Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says the "centre of gravity in Australia now is for strong targets", with the majority of civil society and business groups supporting the clean energy transition, describing Mr Joyce as a "lone voice in the community". "[His] policy position is let it rip, like let the climate crisis get as bad as it can, because we're not going to do anything about it," Ms McKenzie told this masthead. "The science shows that we can if we let climate change go unchecked, that's a $4 trillion hit to the economy. That's the death of the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland tourism industry ... Nearly 10 per cent of properties ... would be uninsurable." On Monday, One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson took up Mr Joyce's cause with an urgency motion in the Senate calling for Australia to abandon its net zero target. While it failed, Liberal senator Alex Antic and Nationals senator Matt Canavan joined One Nation's four senators and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet in voting for it. When asked if she or her office directed Liberal senators to abstain from the vote, Ms Ley said only: "We're regularly in touch with senators, and we're regularly in touch with members via the whip, via the managers of both opposition business in the House and the Senate." Senator Canavan, one of the Coalition's most vocal critics of net zero, said there was no hurry to reach an agreed position this far out from the next election, telling reporters: "We're irrelevant right now, who cares what it looks [like] right now ... It doesn't have to be neat or tidy or pretty". When asked about the comment, Mr Tehan said it was "incredibly important that we have an alternative to put to the Australian people" and that work would continue "over the next nine to 12 months". As the Coalition pursued Labor in parliamentary question time over power bill costs on Thursday, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen hit back with: "They are triggered every time we mention renewable energy." While Ms Ley seeks to mend the Coalition's climate rift, the government is pushing ahead with efforts to reduce Australia's carbon emissions through a transition to renewable energy. UN climate chief Simon Steele - who met with Mr Bowen in Canberra this week - has urged the government to "go big", saying the new target will be a "defining moment" for Australia, while Independent ACT senator David Pocock called it "the biggest test of the moral courage of the Albanese government". The Climate Council wants a commitment to slash emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035, saying this is the level required to "do our fair share to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius" - the level scientists warn will tip global warming into catastrophic and irreversible territory - while the Greens say anything less would breach the Paris Agreement. Ms McKenzie said Australia had for years been a pariah on the international stage when it came to climate, but that things were turning around. "It was embarrassing to go to these international negotiations and say you're Australian ... But that has changed substantially," she said. READ MORE: "If there's a trade negotiation, we should be in the room. And the only way to get in the room is to have skin in the game ... You only have skin in the game in climate if you are acting, then you have credibility." Mr Bowen told the ABC: "We'll be setting our target in terms of our national interest, what's good for Australia, what comes out of the modelling as the right balance [and] as the Climate Change Act demands, [with] consideration of the science and all the evidence before us." The CSIRO, which this week released its annual GenCost report for 2024-25, says firm renewables backed by transmission are the lowest-cost new form of electricity generation technology, while small modular nuclear reactors are the most expensive. The Coalition is yet to decide if it wants to retain the policy Mr Dutton took to the election to build nuclear power plants to meet Australia's energy needs, but wants to lift the moratorium on nuclear as a starting point. When asked by Mr Tehan if the government would meet its target of achieving 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target, Mr Bowen said it took "some temerity from those opposite to ask this side of the house about meeting our targets, when they can't agree on whether they have a target". When Barnaby Joyce caught up with this masthead in Parliament House last week, the former deputy prime minister was in fine form. After being relegated to the backbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Mr Joyce was clearly enjoying the attention while talking up his private member's bill to abolish Australia's climate target. The member for New England, who says Ms Ley's predecessor Peter Dutton wanted to sack him for refusing to say nuclear energy would bring down electricity prices and opposing net zero, has gone rogue with his bill - which will be top of the agenda when politicians return to Canberra in three weeks' time. It's putting a spotlight on the Coalition's longstanding divisions over climate and energy, just as Ms Ley seeks to unite the opposition after its electoral wipe-out. Mr Joyce calls the pursuit of net zero a "lunatic crusade" and wants Australia to go with the cheapest possible energy - even if that is coal - and rails against renewables like solar and "swindle factories" (wind farms). And he's not the only one, with Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie taking aim at new Western Australian Liberal leader Basil Zempilas for supporting net zero this week, ahead of Ms Ley's upcoming visit. The Albanese government is seeking to extract as much political capital as possible from the issue, even as it comes under pressure over its own climate policy ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Labor passed a procedural motion on Thursday scheduling Mr Joyce's private member's bill for debate in the House of Representatives on the first sitting day back, August 25. It was a tactical play, aimed at dialling up the pressure on Ms Ley as she grapples with the longstanding conflict among her MPs over climate. The motion was opposed by all Coalition members except for Mr Joyce. His bill seeks to dismantle the 2050 net zero target - which the Coalition supported before the election but is now reviewing - by overturning or amending climate legislation. Ms Ley sought to downplay the divisions this week while vowing to allow all views to be considered as the Coalition reviews net zero through a working group led by energy and emissions spokesperson Dan Tehan. "It's going to flesh out the different perspectives," she said. "Everything is on the table." While conservatives want to ditch the target, some moderate Liberals say that without it, the Coalition, which has been reduced to just 43 lower house seats and 27 in the Senate, cannot form a credible alternative government or win back inner-city seats lost to teal independents. Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says the "centre of gravity in Australia now is for strong targets", with the majority of civil society and business groups supporting the clean energy transition, describing Mr Joyce as a "lone voice in the community". "[His] policy position is let it rip, like let the climate crisis get as bad as it can, because we're not going to do anything about it," Ms McKenzie told this masthead. "The science shows that we can if we let climate change go unchecked, that's a $4 trillion hit to the economy. That's the death of the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland tourism industry ... Nearly 10 per cent of properties ... would be uninsurable." On Monday, One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson took up Mr Joyce's cause with an urgency motion in the Senate calling for Australia to abandon its net zero target. While it failed, Liberal senator Alex Antic and Nationals senator Matt Canavan joined One Nation's four senators and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet in voting for it. When asked if she or her office directed Liberal senators to abstain from the vote, Ms Ley said only: "We're regularly in touch with senators, and we're regularly in touch with members via the whip, via the managers of both opposition business in the House and the Senate." Senator Canavan, one of the Coalition's most vocal critics of net zero, said there was no hurry to reach an agreed position this far out from the next election, telling reporters: "We're irrelevant right now, who cares what it looks [like] right now ... It doesn't have to be neat or tidy or pretty". When asked about the comment, Mr Tehan said it was "incredibly important that we have an alternative to put to the Australian people" and that work would continue "over the next nine to 12 months". As the Coalition pursued Labor in parliamentary question time over power bill costs on Thursday, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen hit back with: "They are triggered every time we mention renewable energy." While Ms Ley seeks to mend the Coalition's climate rift, the government is pushing ahead with efforts to reduce Australia's carbon emissions through a transition to renewable energy. UN climate chief Simon Steele - who met with Mr Bowen in Canberra this week - has urged the government to "go big", saying the new target will be a "defining moment" for Australia, while Independent ACT senator David Pocock called it "the biggest test of the moral courage of the Albanese government". The Climate Council wants a commitment to slash emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035, saying this is the level required to "do our fair share to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius" - the level scientists warn will tip global warming into catastrophic and irreversible territory - while the Greens say anything less would breach the Paris Agreement. Ms McKenzie said Australia had for years been a pariah on the international stage when it came to climate, but that things were turning around. "It was embarrassing to go to these international negotiations and say you're Australian ... But that has changed substantially," she said. READ MORE: "If there's a trade negotiation, we should be in the room. And the only way to get in the room is to have skin in the game ... You only have skin in the game in climate if you are acting, then you have credibility." Mr Bowen told the ABC: "We'll be setting our target in terms of our national interest, what's good for Australia, what comes out of the modelling as the right balance [and] as the Climate Change Act demands, [with] consideration of the science and all the evidence before us." The CSIRO, which this week released its annual GenCost report for 2024-25, says firm renewables backed by transmission are the lowest-cost new form of electricity generation technology, while small modular nuclear reactors are the most expensive. The Coalition is yet to decide if it wants to retain the policy Mr Dutton took to the election to build nuclear power plants to meet Australia's energy needs, but wants to lift the moratorium on nuclear as a starting point. When asked by Mr Tehan if the government would meet its target of achieving 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target, Mr Bowen said it took "some temerity from those opposite to ask this side of the house about meeting our targets, when they can't agree on whether they have a target". When Barnaby Joyce caught up with this masthead in Parliament House last week, the former deputy prime minister was in fine form. After being relegated to the backbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Mr Joyce was clearly enjoying the attention while talking up his private member's bill to abolish Australia's climate target. The member for New England, who says Ms Ley's predecessor Peter Dutton wanted to sack him for refusing to say nuclear energy would bring down electricity prices and opposing net zero, has gone rogue with his bill - which will be top of the agenda when politicians return to Canberra in three weeks' time. It's putting a spotlight on the Coalition's longstanding divisions over climate and energy, just as Ms Ley seeks to unite the opposition after its electoral wipe-out. Mr Joyce calls the pursuit of net zero a "lunatic crusade" and wants Australia to go with the cheapest possible energy - even if that is coal - and rails against renewables like solar and "swindle factories" (wind farms). And he's not the only one, with Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie taking aim at new Western Australian Liberal leader Basil Zempilas for supporting net zero this week, ahead of Ms Ley's upcoming visit. The Albanese government is seeking to extract as much political capital as possible from the issue, even as it comes under pressure over its own climate policy ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. Labor passed a procedural motion on Thursday scheduling Mr Joyce's private member's bill for debate in the House of Representatives on the first sitting day back, August 25. It was a tactical play, aimed at dialling up the pressure on Ms Ley as she grapples with the longstanding conflict among her MPs over climate. The motion was opposed by all Coalition members except for Mr Joyce. His bill seeks to dismantle the 2050 net zero target - which the Coalition supported before the election but is now reviewing - by overturning or amending climate legislation. Ms Ley sought to downplay the divisions this week while vowing to allow all views to be considered as the Coalition reviews net zero through a working group led by energy and emissions spokesperson Dan Tehan. "It's going to flesh out the different perspectives," she said. "Everything is on the table." While conservatives want to ditch the target, some moderate Liberals say that without it, the Coalition, which has been reduced to just 43 lower house seats and 27 in the Senate, cannot form a credible alternative government or win back inner-city seats lost to teal independents. Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says the "centre of gravity in Australia now is for strong targets", with the majority of civil society and business groups supporting the clean energy transition, describing Mr Joyce as a "lone voice in the community". "[His] policy position is let it rip, like let the climate crisis get as bad as it can, because we're not going to do anything about it," Ms McKenzie told this masthead. "The science shows that we can if we let climate change go unchecked, that's a $4 trillion hit to the economy. That's the death of the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland tourism industry ... Nearly 10 per cent of properties ... would be uninsurable." On Monday, One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson took up Mr Joyce's cause with an urgency motion in the Senate calling for Australia to abandon its net zero target. While it failed, Liberal senator Alex Antic and Nationals senator Matt Canavan joined One Nation's four senators and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet in voting for it. When asked if she or her office directed Liberal senators to abstain from the vote, Ms Ley said only: "We're regularly in touch with senators, and we're regularly in touch with members via the whip, via the managers of both opposition business in the House and the Senate." Senator Canavan, one of the Coalition's most vocal critics of net zero, said there was no hurry to reach an agreed position this far out from the next election, telling reporters: "We're irrelevant right now, who cares what it looks [like] right now ... It doesn't have to be neat or tidy or pretty". When asked about the comment, Mr Tehan said it was "incredibly important that we have an alternative to put to the Australian people" and that work would continue "over the next nine to 12 months". As the Coalition pursued Labor in parliamentary question time over power bill costs on Thursday, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen hit back with: "They are triggered every time we mention renewable energy." While Ms Ley seeks to mend the Coalition's climate rift, the government is pushing ahead with efforts to reduce Australia's carbon emissions through a transition to renewable energy. UN climate chief Simon Steele - who met with Mr Bowen in Canberra this week - has urged the government to "go big", saying the new target will be a "defining moment" for Australia, while Independent ACT senator David Pocock called it "the biggest test of the moral courage of the Albanese government". The Climate Council wants a commitment to slash emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035, saying this is the level required to "do our fair share to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius" - the level scientists warn will tip global warming into catastrophic and irreversible territory - while the Greens say anything less would breach the Paris Agreement. Ms McKenzie said Australia had for years been a pariah on the international stage when it came to climate, but that things were turning around. "It was embarrassing to go to these international negotiations and say you're Australian ... But that has changed substantially," she said. READ MORE: "If there's a trade negotiation, we should be in the room. And the only way to get in the room is to have skin in the game ... You only have skin in the game in climate if you are acting, then you have credibility." Mr Bowen told the ABC: "We'll be setting our target in terms of our national interest, what's good for Australia, what comes out of the modelling as the right balance [and] as the Climate Change Act demands, [with] consideration of the science and all the evidence before us." The CSIRO, which this week released its annual GenCost report for 2024-25, says firm renewables backed by transmission are the lowest-cost new form of electricity generation technology, while small modular nuclear reactors are the most expensive. The Coalition is yet to decide if it wants to retain the policy Mr Dutton took to the election to build nuclear power plants to meet Australia's energy needs, but wants to lift the moratorium on nuclear as a starting point. When asked by Mr Tehan if the government would meet its target of achieving 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target, Mr Bowen said it took "some temerity from those opposite to ask this side of the house about meeting our targets, when they can't agree on whether they have a target".
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Palestinian statehood declares 'enough' suffering
A group of nations collectively recognising a Palestinian state is a declaration the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is "enough", a Labor MP says. Canada has joined the UK and France in announcing plans to support statehood at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. But Canada's pledge comes with conditions, including the demilitarisation and exclusion of Hamas, which Australia deems a terrorist organisation. Labor backbencher Ed Husic, the first Muslim elected to federal parliament and one of the first Muslim cabinet ministers, said the move had become a way for countries to put pressure on the Israeli government. "A lot of our friends in the international community, for them, recognition is their way of saying enough," he told ABC News on Friday. "Enough with the blockade, enough with holding back humanitarian aid. Enough with people starving, enough with people being killed - innocent Palestinians in their scores. "Australia has this opportunity now to be able to press its ambitions and objectives in this area that are founded on very solid grounds." Mr Husic said there were "conditions that need to be fulfilled, and then recognition will be part at the end of that process". The federal government is under increasing pressure to follow suit, with senior ministers saying Australia's recognition of Palestine is a matter of "when, not if". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the nation would not be bound by the deadline of the UN conference. "The decision to recognise (Palestine) on the path to two states being created would make a positive difference … but in order for that to be achieved, there needs to be security for the state of Israel," he told ABC's 7.30 on Thursday. Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the coalition's "firm view" was a negotiated two-state solution and that Hamas could not be in control of Gaza. "We all want to see peace, we all want to see an enduring solution, we all want to see the suffering end," he told ABC Radio. "A negotiated, enduring solution is the pathway we should be looking for." It comes as Australia's representative to the UN James Larsen said the government would continue to work with the international community to make a two-state solution a reality. "Australia shares the frustration of the great majority of countries that a Palestinian state still does not exist," he said at the UN overnight. Mr Larsen reiterated terrorist group Hamas could play no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state and that hostages needed to be released immediately. But statehood remained "an essential step to a two-state solution", he said, amid criticism from Israel and Jewish groups in Australia that recognition would reward Hamas. A group of nations collectively recognising a Palestinian state is a declaration the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is "enough", a Labor MP says. Canada has joined the UK and France in announcing plans to support statehood at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. But Canada's pledge comes with conditions, including the demilitarisation and exclusion of Hamas, which Australia deems a terrorist organisation. Labor backbencher Ed Husic, the first Muslim elected to federal parliament and one of the first Muslim cabinet ministers, said the move had become a way for countries to put pressure on the Israeli government. "A lot of our friends in the international community, for them, recognition is their way of saying enough," he told ABC News on Friday. "Enough with the blockade, enough with holding back humanitarian aid. Enough with people starving, enough with people being killed - innocent Palestinians in their scores. "Australia has this opportunity now to be able to press its ambitions and objectives in this area that are founded on very solid grounds." Mr Husic said there were "conditions that need to be fulfilled, and then recognition will be part at the end of that process". The federal government is under increasing pressure to follow suit, with senior ministers saying Australia's recognition of Palestine is a matter of "when, not if". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the nation would not be bound by the deadline of the UN conference. "The decision to recognise (Palestine) on the path to two states being created would make a positive difference … but in order for that to be achieved, there needs to be security for the state of Israel," he told ABC's 7.30 on Thursday. Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the coalition's "firm view" was a negotiated two-state solution and that Hamas could not be in control of Gaza. "We all want to see peace, we all want to see an enduring solution, we all want to see the suffering end," he told ABC Radio. "A negotiated, enduring solution is the pathway we should be looking for." It comes as Australia's representative to the UN James Larsen said the government would continue to work with the international community to make a two-state solution a reality. "Australia shares the frustration of the great majority of countries that a Palestinian state still does not exist," he said at the UN overnight. Mr Larsen reiterated terrorist group Hamas could play no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state and that hostages needed to be released immediately. But statehood remained "an essential step to a two-state solution", he said, amid criticism from Israel and Jewish groups in Australia that recognition would reward Hamas. A group of nations collectively recognising a Palestinian state is a declaration the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is "enough", a Labor MP says. Canada has joined the UK and France in announcing plans to support statehood at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. But Canada's pledge comes with conditions, including the demilitarisation and exclusion of Hamas, which Australia deems a terrorist organisation. Labor backbencher Ed Husic, the first Muslim elected to federal parliament and one of the first Muslim cabinet ministers, said the move had become a way for countries to put pressure on the Israeli government. "A lot of our friends in the international community, for them, recognition is their way of saying enough," he told ABC News on Friday. "Enough with the blockade, enough with holding back humanitarian aid. Enough with people starving, enough with people being killed - innocent Palestinians in their scores. "Australia has this opportunity now to be able to press its ambitions and objectives in this area that are founded on very solid grounds." Mr Husic said there were "conditions that need to be fulfilled, and then recognition will be part at the end of that process". The federal government is under increasing pressure to follow suit, with senior ministers saying Australia's recognition of Palestine is a matter of "when, not if". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the nation would not be bound by the deadline of the UN conference. "The decision to recognise (Palestine) on the path to two states being created would make a positive difference … but in order for that to be achieved, there needs to be security for the state of Israel," he told ABC's 7.30 on Thursday. Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the coalition's "firm view" was a negotiated two-state solution and that Hamas could not be in control of Gaza. "We all want to see peace, we all want to see an enduring solution, we all want to see the suffering end," he told ABC Radio. "A negotiated, enduring solution is the pathway we should be looking for." It comes as Australia's representative to the UN James Larsen said the government would continue to work with the international community to make a two-state solution a reality. "Australia shares the frustration of the great majority of countries that a Palestinian state still does not exist," he said at the UN overnight. Mr Larsen reiterated terrorist group Hamas could play no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state and that hostages needed to be released immediately. But statehood remained "an essential step to a two-state solution", he said, amid criticism from Israel and Jewish groups in Australia that recognition would reward Hamas. A group of nations collectively recognising a Palestinian state is a declaration the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is "enough", a Labor MP says. Canada has joined the UK and France in announcing plans to support statehood at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. But Canada's pledge comes with conditions, including the demilitarisation and exclusion of Hamas, which Australia deems a terrorist organisation. Labor backbencher Ed Husic, the first Muslim elected to federal parliament and one of the first Muslim cabinet ministers, said the move had become a way for countries to put pressure on the Israeli government. "A lot of our friends in the international community, for them, recognition is their way of saying enough," he told ABC News on Friday. "Enough with the blockade, enough with holding back humanitarian aid. Enough with people starving, enough with people being killed - innocent Palestinians in their scores. "Australia has this opportunity now to be able to press its ambitions and objectives in this area that are founded on very solid grounds." Mr Husic said there were "conditions that need to be fulfilled, and then recognition will be part at the end of that process". The federal government is under increasing pressure to follow suit, with senior ministers saying Australia's recognition of Palestine is a matter of "when, not if". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the nation would not be bound by the deadline of the UN conference. "The decision to recognise (Palestine) on the path to two states being created would make a positive difference … but in order for that to be achieved, there needs to be security for the state of Israel," he told ABC's 7.30 on Thursday. Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the coalition's "firm view" was a negotiated two-state solution and that Hamas could not be in control of Gaza. "We all want to see peace, we all want to see an enduring solution, we all want to see the suffering end," he told ABC Radio. "A negotiated, enduring solution is the pathway we should be looking for." It comes as Australia's representative to the UN James Larsen said the government would continue to work with the international community to make a two-state solution a reality. "Australia shares the frustration of the great majority of countries that a Palestinian state still does not exist," he said at the UN overnight. Mr Larsen reiterated terrorist group Hamas could play no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state and that hostages needed to be released immediately. But statehood remained "an essential step to a two-state solution", he said, amid criticism from Israel and Jewish groups in Australia that recognition would reward Hamas.
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Palestinian statehood declares 'enough' suffering
A group of nations collectively recognising a Palestinian state is a declaration the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is "enough", a Labor MP says. Canada has joined the UK and France in announcing plans to support statehood at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. But Canada's pledge comes with conditions, including the demilitarisation and exclusion of Hamas, which Australia deems a terrorist organisation. Labor backbencher Ed Husic, the first Muslim elected to federal parliament and one of the first Muslim cabinet ministers, said the move had become a way for countries to put pressure on the Israeli government. "A lot of our friends in the international community, for them, recognition is their way of saying enough," he told ABC News on Friday. "Enough with the blockade, enough with holding back humanitarian aid. Enough with people starving, enough with people being killed - innocent Palestinians in their scores. "Australia has this opportunity now to be able to press its ambitions and objectives in this area that are founded on very solid grounds." Mr Husic said there were "conditions that need to be fulfilled, and then recognition will be part at the end of that process". The federal government is under increasing pressure to follow suit, with senior ministers saying Australia's recognition of Palestine is a matter of "when, not if". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the nation would not be bound by the deadline of the UN conference. "The decision to recognise (Palestine) on the path to two states being created would make a positive difference … but in order for that to be achieved, there needs to be security for the state of Israel," he told ABC's 7.30 on Thursday. Liberal senator Paul Scarr said the coalition's "firm view" was a negotiated two-state solution and that Hamas could not be in control of Gaza. "We all want to see peace, we all want to see an enduring solution, we all want to see the suffering end," he told ABC Radio. "A negotiated, enduring solution is the pathway we should be looking for." It comes as Australia's representative to the UN James Larsen said the government would continue to work with the international community to make a two-state solution a reality. "Australia shares the frustration of the great majority of countries that a Palestinian state still does not exist," he said at the UN overnight. Mr Larsen reiterated terrorist group Hamas could play no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state and that hostages needed to be released immediately. But statehood remained "an essential step to a two-state solution", he said, amid criticism from Israel and Jewish groups in Australia that recognition would reward Hamas.
