Labor's freedom in numbers is a double-edged sword on Gaza and Israel

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

In politics, it's not always those who sit opposite that you need to worry about.
It's also those who sit behind you.
As the Albanese government prepares to return to Parliament next month, it will sit across from a demoralised Coalition, which has spent the past couple of weeks breaking up and making up with all the drama of a high school couple.
But perhaps posing more of a problem for Labor is a politician scorned.
Dumped cabinet minister Ed Husic blamed Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles for his removal from cabinet, calling him a "factional assassin".
But assassins are paid to kill and Husic's still kicking.
The long-serving Labor MP wasted no time in saying the way power was wielded would repel people from the party, declaring former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus — a fellow victim of factional fighting — was denied dignity in the process.
In dumping Husic from the ministry, the party has also liberated him from the shackles of cabinet solidarity that have seen him tread more carefully when speaking about the war in Gaza.
No longer.
Husic has been highly critical of the government for not doing enough to condemn Israel for withholding aid from Gaza.
He said Australia "can and should be doing more" — from calling in the Israeli ambassador, to ramping up its contribution to the international humanitarian effort and imposing sanctions on Israel, beyond what's already been imposed on settlers in the West Bank.
And while he noted Australia had signed a statement alongside several countries calling for the reinstatement of aid, he questioned why the government didn't "proudly" join the UK, Canada and France, saying they would take concrete actions if Israel didn't cease its renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid.
There is also pressure within Labor's grassroots membership for the government to impose sanctions on Israeli individuals and groups, while former foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Bob Carr have also endorsed sanctions.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said Australia is not a major player in the Middle East.
But the impact of the war in Gaza is being felt acutely by people in Australia.
Incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia have risen, and Australians have also watched in horror as family members have been displaced or killed in the conflict.
In trying to hold the middle ground on the Middle East, the government has often found itself disappointing all sides at home - those in support of Israel and those with anti-Zionist views, who feel let down by the government.
And while Labor had a sweeping election victory, if you look under the hood of the results in western Sydney seats like Blaxland and Watson — where there are high concentrations of Arab-Australians — Labor's primary vote was down.
Free from the constraints of an election campaign — and as images of burned, maimed and starving children, some crying and some simply too weak to — continue to be broadcast on people's screens, Albanese has toughened his rhetoric.
Trying to allay the concerns of international allies, Israel has argued it would let a "basic amount of food" in for the Palestinian population.
But Albanese said it was "outrageous" Israel was blocking food and supplies to people in need, while shrugging off calls for sanctions, saying the government would follow its own path.
Australia will attend a United Nations-backed summit in New York this month, although at this stage it hasn't landed on who will go.
The federal government's prevailing narrative is that Australia no longer sees recognition of a Palestinian state as occurring at the end of negotiations — but rather as a way of building momentum in the peace process.
However, Labor has also been adamant there can be no role for Hamas in a future Palestinian state.
Until the party lands on its next moves, they will have people within pushing for more to be done.
As the prime minister fends off criticism from those now sitting much further back on the benches, the Greens have also had a blow from within.
Having lost three seats in the lower house at the last election — including that of former leader Adam Bandt — it's now also lost a Senate seat.
But this time, it had nothing to do with the voting public.
Greens senator Dorinda Cox has defected to sit with the Labor party, saying her values align more closely with them.
It's a curious statement, given just days ago she criticised Labor's approval of Woodside's expansion of the North West Shelf gas project out to 2070.
But the senator had run unsuccessfully for the Greens deputy leadership in the wake of the election, and was facing the prospect of losing the number one spot on the Greens' WA senate ticket.
Like many relationship break-ups, this split comes with baggage. Labor is taking on a senator who has also been accused of bullying a number of office staff, allegations she has denied and criticised as "missing context".
But in turn the party gains a senator and punishes a party which the prime minister has declared has "lost their way."
The last parliament saw numerous defections: Liberals and Nationals quit to sit as independents. Lidia Thorpe quit the Greens over the Voice, and Fatima Payman resigned from the Labor party over the party's position on the Gaza conflict.
When Payman quit the party to sit as an independent, the prime minister suggested she should end her six-year term — "gifted" under Labor — and recontest the next federal election as an independent.
However, presented with the opportunity to gain a number rather than lose one, Anthony Albanese said Cox would serve out the remainder of her term with Labor, noting she will have to be pre-selected through ALP processes to run for the next election.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has described the Senate as a "political merry-go-round".
And especially given the election was mere weeks ago — it begs the question: is it democratic for politicians, having been elected as a member of one party, to leave for another?
There's currently no federal legislation in Australia that specifically addresses defections — only deaths and resignations — and experts have suggested punishing defectors could raise constitutional issues, and reduce stability and accountability in the Parliament.
So while defections frustrate the public, they're a feature of the Australian parliament that isn't likely to go away.
With an additional number in their ranks, the change is undoubtedly a morale boost for Labor, but practically it doesn't change the composition of the upper house dramatically.
Labor still needs the Greens or the Coalition to pass legislation there, although this shift means that if the pair want to join forces to block government legislation, they'll need another number from the crossbench.
Albanese will enter the first parliamentary sitting of the new government with calls to use his increased majority in the House to tackle more ambitious agenda items.
Before the election, most in Labor were willing to swallow their concerns because of fears disunity would mean political death.
But in the wake of a victory few saw coming, the enormous majority also comes with a downside for the PM.
It means there are now more backbenchers to get on board, and more Labor MPs who could speak out if Albanese isn't able to land on a position everyone in the backbench is satisfied with.