'World cannot wait': Australia to recognise Palestine
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Sky News AU
29 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
US disappointed by Australia's plan to recognise Palestine
The US Ambassador to Israel says Australia's plan to recognise Palestine was met with disgust by the Trump administration. Mike Huckabee says there was an enormous level of disappointment around Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's call. He believes the decision by Australia and other countries, including the UK and France, could push Israel towards annexing the West Bank. It could place more pressure on Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd as he tries to negotiate a meeting between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Donald Trump is ‘disappointed' over Australia's Palestine pledge, US Ambassador to Israel says
The US Ambassador to Israel has slammed as 'ill-timed' and 'not OK' the announcement by Australia and other countries to recognise a Palestinian state. Mike Huckabee says the decision of Australia, the UK, Canada, France and other countries was the wrong thing to do while hostages were still being held and 'tortured'. 'Australia can do what it wants to do but we certainly don't have to agree with it,' Mr Huckabee told ABC TV's 7.30 program on Thursday night. 'We don't have to like it, we don't have to pretend that it's OK because in our view it's not OK and it was ill-timed. 'I think, when hostages are being held and tortured – not just held – they're not being fed, they're being forced to dig their own graves. We've seen the videos. 'And for this to come at a time like this, further endangering them and endangering any hopes of some peaceful resolution of dealing with Hamas and getting them to lay down their arms.' When asked if the matter had been discussed President Donald Trump, Mr Hackabee said: 'Absolutely, and we discussed it at state department level with the Secretary. There is an enormous level of disappointment, and some disgust.' While Mr Hackabee said President Trump may not have used the word 'disgust'' himself, it conveyed the sentiment. 'I think it does express the emotional sentiment, a sense of, 'You've got to be kidding … why would they be doing this? And why would they be doing it now'?,' he said. Anthony Albanese on Monday announced that Australia would move to recognise a Palestinian state, under certain conditions, at the United Nations General Assembly next month, citing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Prime Minister heralded the decision as a step toward breaking 'the cycle of violence in the Middle East' and bringing 'an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza'. But he placed conditions on the recognition, including that the terrorist organisation Hamas has 'no role' in a future Palestinian state and the Palestinian Authority recognises 'Israel's right to exist in peace and security'. Hamas, which runs Gaza, was behind the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, killing more than 1200 people in its unprecedented assault and taking hostages, with up to 20 still being held. Its fighters slaughtered whole families and boasted about the violence on social media. The October 7 attacks represent the worth loss off Jewish lives since the Holocaust. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel's relentless pursuit of Hamas. With civilians making up the majority of deaths and no end in sight to the conflict, Mr Albanese said recognising Palestine was about saying 'enough is enough' to the 'cycle of violence'. 'Propaganda': Albanese dismisses Hamas 'praise' Meanwhile, Mr Albanese is warning of Hamas 'propaganda' after the Islamist group put out statements overnight welcoming his pledge to recognise Palestinian statehood. Its support for recognition is not a surprise – Palestinian statehood is a core goal for the group. So too is the destruction of Israel, meaning it does not support a two-state solution, which would see Israelis and Palestinians living within sovereign, internationally recognised borders. The Prime Minister made this point when fronting media in Brisbane on Thursday. 'Hamas do not want a two-state solution,' he told reporters. 'What they want is one state.' Mr Albanese also cast doubt on the initial statement reported by the Nine newspapers on Wednesday. It was attributed to Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, who was arrested in an Israeli raid in the West Bank after the 2023 attacks. In one statement overnight, Hamas rejected that Mr Yousef could issue comments given his imprisonment. 'I notice in the statement that's made today, they say that the alleged statement from the person yesterday is someone who's been in prison in Israel since October 2023 and has no means of communication,' Mr Albanese said. 'What that should be is a warning to the media of being very careful about the fact that Hamas will engage in propaganda because what is happening is the international community are united about isolating Hamas, about supporting a peaceful way forward.' Meanwhile, Sussan Ley has called on Mr Albanese to reconsider his decision to recognise Palestine. Speaking later on Thursday, the Opposition Leader said Mr Albanese 'should look at his own statements' because they 'say quite clearly that Hamas would not support the decision he's made'. 'But Hamas is more than supporting the decision he's made,' Ms Ley told reporters in Adelaide. 'They're in full-throated praise of it. They are cheering on. They're calling our Prime Minister a man of courage on a day when a terrorist organisation calls our Prime Minister a hero. 'Surely he has to think about reversing the decision that led to that.' Hamas overnight welcomed any support to 'help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals' but did not directly praise Mr Albanese. 'Any efforts from any party to help the Palestinian people achieve their national goals of (an) independent state and self sovereignty is very welcomed, but the core question is how to implement this and how to oblige Israel to abide (by) international law,' it said to Sky News. 'These movements are in need for teeth, for practical guide and for honest commitment to reach this goal, otherwise we will continue.' The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said it was true that Hamas opposed a two-state solution, but Mr Albanese did not have the full picture. 'The Prime Minister framed the announcement as a defeat for Hamas because of its violent opposition to a two-state solution and desire to replace Israel with a Palestinian state from the river to the sea,' co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said in a statement. 'He is right about Hamas's intentions but wrong about how they see the struggle. 'They view the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as a leap towards eventual conquest and slaughter of the Jews.' He added that Hamas was praising Mr Albanese because it feels 'like October 7 has worked perfectly and now brought them a step closer to total victory'. 'Western governments have unwittingly played along with Hamas's vision of annihilation,' Mr Ryvchin said.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
This gobsmacking four-day working week proposal sets us back 25 years
The ACTU's gobsmacking proposal for a national four-day working week would take our country's productivity back a quarter of a century, drive businesses to the wall and turn us into an uncompetitive international laughing stock. The idea that businesses could afford to pay the same for 20 per cent less output, while meeting customer demand and keep costs down for consumers is simply ludicrous. Anyone with a sense of self-awareness knows we face challenging times: poor productivity, major technological change, massive global upheaval, skills and labour shortages and more. Now is the time to work smarter, not less, to keep us competitive and economically viable. This proposal, less than a week before the Treasurer's Economic Reform Roundtable to discuss boosting productivity and improving economic settings, simply fails the pub test. Fortunately, the federal government has been quick to kick it into the long grass where it should remain. The notion that paying people the same to work 20 per cent less means they will be more productive when they do work just doesn't stack up. It unfortunately shows the ACTU is not serious about identifying what is good for Australian workers or the community. At the current rate of productivity growth, it would take more than 25 years to generate enough productivity for business to break even with the proposal. That's a quarter of a century to get our productivity back to where it is now, while the rest of the world powers ahead. This would commit an entire generation's worth of national productivity gains to a union frolic, when so many other urgent and pressing issues need more investment in our country. If the unions were serious about increased workplace flexibility, they could have gone to the Fair Work Commission and proposed it as part of renegotiation of awards. This would open a proper discussion on trade-offs which link flexibility to productivity improvements. We need more flexible workplaces. Employers want it and many employees want it. One obvious area of need is to give both more options to change working times by agreement. Neither business nor workers benefit when rigid hours are forced on them. But this isn't where the ACTU went. They've simply tried to create a media headline by throwing out an unrealistic claim lacking any evidence or realistic prospect. They cited a small academic study whose authors concede they can't verify there would actually be economy-wide productivity gains. This isn't the serious and good faith discussion required at next week's Roundtable. This followed on from the Victorian government plan to give employees a legislated right to work two days a week from home. It seems the union movement and some in government don't want Australians to work at all. They want to turn back time, cut productivity and make Australia less attractive to much-needed investment. It also comes at a time when the country is desperately short of workers with the right skills for our needs. More than 340,000 jobs currently sit vacant - around 100,000 more than normal - and a third of the labour force work in occupations classified as in national supply shortage. Standing down 20 per cent of our workforce capacity will only make the skills shortages cruelling our industries - particularly in regional Australia - that much worse. This is reckless and irresponsible and seeks to prioritise feel-good headlines over sound policy and economic management. It would have serious impacts across the country, in particular in our regions, harming working people, businesses of all sizes and local communities. It also comes at a time when the Australian government is rightly trying to focus on doing the opposite - lifting productivity, which is the ultimate source of higher wages and prosperity for generations to come. The importance of reversing Australia's productivity crisis could not be clearer. The Reserve Bank of Australia, a day before the ACTU announced its "plan", said Australians faced declining living standards because of falling productivity. This threatens to be an intergenerational failure of epic proportions. The leaders of today should not betray the legacy of preceding generations by failing to bequeath an Australia in which each generation can build on the hard work and smart decisions of its forebears. Countries around the world are fighting tooth and nail to improve their competitiveness, including in the race to successfully seize the opportunities created by changing technologies such as artificial intelligence. The RBA is warning us that Australia is on a fast track to going backwards unless we can increase our productivity. We need to take notice and work smarter together to meet this challenge. The ACTU and governments at all levels should be reckoning with these issues and - with the productivity challenge the government has called out through next week's Economic Reform Roundtable - not indulge in luxury beliefs and fanciful notions which will only harm working Australians, their families and communities. The ACTU's gobsmacking proposal for a national four-day working week would take our country's productivity back a quarter of a century, drive businesses to the wall and turn us into an uncompetitive international laughing stock. The idea that businesses could afford to pay the same for 20 per cent less output, while meeting customer demand and keep costs down for consumers is simply ludicrous. Anyone with a sense of self-awareness knows we face challenging times: poor productivity, major technological change, massive global upheaval, skills and labour shortages and more. Now is the time to work smarter, not less, to keep us competitive and economically viable. This proposal, less than a week before the Treasurer's Economic Reform Roundtable to discuss boosting productivity and improving economic settings, simply fails the pub test. Fortunately, the federal government has been quick to kick it into the long grass where it should remain. The notion that paying people the same to work 20 per cent less means they will be more productive when they do work just doesn't stack up. It unfortunately shows the ACTU is not serious about identifying what is good for Australian workers or the community. At the current rate of productivity growth, it would take more than 25 years to generate enough productivity for business to break even with the proposal. That's a quarter of a century to get our productivity back to where it is now, while the rest of the world powers ahead. This would commit an entire generation's worth of national productivity gains to a union frolic, when so many other urgent and pressing issues need more investment in our country. If the unions were serious about increased workplace flexibility, they could have gone to the Fair Work Commission and proposed it as part of renegotiation of awards. This would open a proper discussion on trade-offs which link flexibility to productivity improvements. We need more flexible workplaces. Employers want it and many employees want it. One obvious area of need is to give both more options to change working times by agreement. Neither business nor workers benefit when rigid hours are forced on them. But this isn't where the ACTU went. They've simply tried to create a media headline by throwing out an unrealistic claim lacking any evidence or realistic prospect. They cited a small academic study whose authors concede they can't verify there would actually be economy-wide productivity gains. This isn't the serious and good faith discussion required at next week's Roundtable. This followed on from the Victorian government plan to give employees a legislated right to work two days a week from home. It seems the union movement and some in government don't want Australians to work at all. They want to turn back time, cut productivity and make Australia less attractive to much-needed investment. It also comes at a time when the country is desperately short of workers with the right skills for our needs. More than 340,000 jobs currently sit vacant - around 100,000 more than normal - and a third of the labour force work in occupations classified as in national supply shortage. Standing down 20 per cent of our workforce capacity will only make the skills shortages cruelling our industries - particularly in regional Australia - that much worse. This is reckless and irresponsible and seeks to prioritise feel-good headlines over sound policy and economic management. It would have serious impacts across the country, in particular in our regions, harming working people, businesses of all sizes and local communities. It also comes at a time when the Australian government is rightly trying to focus on doing the opposite - lifting productivity, which is the ultimate source of higher wages and prosperity for generations to come. The importance of reversing Australia's productivity crisis could not be clearer. The Reserve Bank of Australia, a day before the ACTU announced its "plan", said Australians faced declining living standards because of falling productivity. This threatens to be an intergenerational failure of epic proportions. The leaders of today should not betray the legacy of preceding generations by failing to bequeath an Australia in which each generation can build on the hard work and smart decisions of its forebears. Countries around the world are fighting tooth and nail to improve their competitiveness, including in the race to successfully seize the opportunities created by changing technologies such as artificial intelligence. The RBA is warning us that Australia is on a fast track to going backwards unless we can increase our productivity. We need to take notice and work smarter together to meet this challenge. The ACTU and governments at all levels should be reckoning with these issues and - with the productivity challenge the government has called out through next week's Economic Reform Roundtable - not indulge in luxury beliefs and fanciful notions which will only harm working Australians, their families and communities. The ACTU's gobsmacking proposal for a national four-day working week would take our country's productivity back a quarter of a century, drive businesses to the wall and turn us into an uncompetitive international laughing stock. The idea that businesses could afford to pay the same for 20 per cent less output, while meeting customer demand and keep costs down for consumers is simply ludicrous. Anyone with a sense of self-awareness knows we face challenging times: poor productivity, major technological change, massive global upheaval, skills and labour shortages and more. Now is the time to work smarter, not less, to keep us competitive and economically viable. This proposal, less than a week before the Treasurer's Economic Reform Roundtable to discuss boosting productivity and improving economic settings, simply fails the pub test. Fortunately, the federal government has been quick to kick it into the long grass where it should remain. The notion that paying people the same to work 20 per cent less means they will be more productive when they do work just doesn't stack up. It unfortunately shows the ACTU is not serious about identifying what is good for Australian workers or the community. At the current rate of productivity growth, it would take more than 25 years to generate enough productivity for business to break even with the proposal. That's a quarter of a century to get our productivity back to where it is now, while the rest of the world powers ahead. This would commit an entire generation's worth of national productivity gains to a union frolic, when so many other urgent and pressing issues need more investment in our country. If the unions were serious about increased workplace flexibility, they could have gone to the Fair Work Commission and proposed it as part of renegotiation of awards. This would open a proper discussion on trade-offs which link flexibility to productivity improvements. We need more flexible workplaces. Employers want it and many employees want it. One obvious area of need is to give both more options to change working times by agreement. Neither business nor workers benefit when rigid hours are forced on them. But this isn't where the ACTU went. They've simply tried to create a media headline by throwing out an unrealistic claim lacking any evidence or realistic prospect. They cited a small academic study whose authors concede they can't verify there would actually be economy-wide productivity gains. This isn't the serious and good faith discussion required at next week's Roundtable. This followed on from the Victorian government plan to give employees a legislated right to work two days a week from home. It seems the union movement and some in government don't want Australians to work at all. They want to turn back time, cut productivity and make Australia less attractive to much-needed investment. It also comes at a time when the country is desperately short of workers with the right skills for our needs. More than 340,000 jobs currently sit vacant - around 100,000 more than normal - and a third of the labour force work in occupations classified as in national supply shortage. Standing down 20 per cent of our workforce capacity will only make the skills shortages cruelling our industries - particularly in regional Australia - that much worse. This is reckless and irresponsible and seeks to prioritise feel-good headlines over sound policy and economic management. It would have serious impacts across the country, in particular in our regions, harming working people, businesses of all sizes and local communities. It also comes at a time when the Australian government is rightly trying to focus on doing the opposite - lifting productivity, which is the ultimate source of higher wages and prosperity for generations to come. The importance of reversing Australia's productivity crisis could not be clearer. The Reserve Bank of Australia, a day before the ACTU announced its "plan", said Australians faced declining living standards because of falling productivity. This threatens to be an intergenerational failure of epic proportions. The leaders of today should not betray the legacy of preceding generations by failing to bequeath an Australia in which each generation can build on the hard work and smart decisions of its forebears. Countries around the world are fighting tooth and nail to improve their competitiveness, including in the race to successfully seize the opportunities created by changing technologies such as artificial intelligence. The RBA is warning us that Australia is on a fast track to going backwards unless we can increase our productivity. We need to take notice and work smarter together to meet this challenge. The ACTU and governments at all levels should be reckoning with these issues and - with the productivity challenge the government has called out through next week's Economic Reform Roundtable - not indulge in luxury beliefs and fanciful notions which will only harm working Australians, their families and communities. The ACTU's gobsmacking proposal for a national four-day working week would take our country's productivity back a quarter of a century, drive businesses to the wall and turn us into an uncompetitive international laughing stock. The idea that businesses could afford to pay the same for 20 per cent less output, while meeting customer demand and keep costs down for consumers is simply ludicrous. Anyone with a sense of self-awareness knows we face challenging times: poor productivity, major technological change, massive global upheaval, skills and labour shortages and more. Now is the time to work smarter, not less, to keep us competitive and economically viable. This proposal, less than a week before the Treasurer's Economic Reform Roundtable to discuss boosting productivity and improving economic settings, simply fails the pub test. Fortunately, the federal government has been quick to kick it into the long grass where it should remain. The notion that paying people the same to work 20 per cent less means they will be more productive when they do work just doesn't stack up. It unfortunately shows the ACTU is not serious about identifying what is good for Australian workers or the community. At the current rate of productivity growth, it would take more than 25 years to generate enough productivity for business to break even with the proposal. That's a quarter of a century to get our productivity back to where it is now, while the rest of the world powers ahead. This would commit an entire generation's worth of national productivity gains to a union frolic, when so many other urgent and pressing issues need more investment in our country. If the unions were serious about increased workplace flexibility, they could have gone to the Fair Work Commission and proposed it as part of renegotiation of awards. This would open a proper discussion on trade-offs which link flexibility to productivity improvements. We need more flexible workplaces. Employers want it and many employees want it. One obvious area of need is to give both more options to change working times by agreement. Neither business nor workers benefit when rigid hours are forced on them. But this isn't where the ACTU went. They've simply tried to create a media headline by throwing out an unrealistic claim lacking any evidence or realistic prospect. They cited a small academic study whose authors concede they can't verify there would actually be economy-wide productivity gains. This isn't the serious and good faith discussion required at next week's Roundtable. This followed on from the Victorian government plan to give employees a legislated right to work two days a week from home. It seems the union movement and some in government don't want Australians to work at all. They want to turn back time, cut productivity and make Australia less attractive to much-needed investment. It also comes at a time when the country is desperately short of workers with the right skills for our needs. More than 340,000 jobs currently sit vacant - around 100,000 more than normal - and a third of the labour force work in occupations classified as in national supply shortage. Standing down 20 per cent of our workforce capacity will only make the skills shortages cruelling our industries - particularly in regional Australia - that much worse. This is reckless and irresponsible and seeks to prioritise feel-good headlines over sound policy and economic management. It would have serious impacts across the country, in particular in our regions, harming working people, businesses of all sizes and local communities. It also comes at a time when the Australian government is rightly trying to focus on doing the opposite - lifting productivity, which is the ultimate source of higher wages and prosperity for generations to come. The importance of reversing Australia's productivity crisis could not be clearer. The Reserve Bank of Australia, a day before the ACTU announced its "plan", said Australians faced declining living standards because of falling productivity. This threatens to be an intergenerational failure of epic proportions. The leaders of today should not betray the legacy of preceding generations by failing to bequeath an Australia in which each generation can build on the hard work and smart decisions of its forebears. Countries around the world are fighting tooth and nail to improve their competitiveness, including in the race to successfully seize the opportunities created by changing technologies such as artificial intelligence. The RBA is warning us that Australia is on a fast track to going backwards unless we can increase our productivity. We need to take notice and work smarter together to meet this challenge. The ACTU and governments at all levels should be reckoning with these issues and - with the productivity challenge the government has called out through next week's Economic Reform Roundtable - not indulge in luxury beliefs and fanciful notions which will only harm working Australians, their families and communities.
