Latest news with #Ed Husic
Daily Mail
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese faces growing calls to recognise Palestinian statehood - so is it the right call?
Anthony Albanese is facing growing pressure to recognise Palestine as a state as prominent figures within Labor's ranks issue an urgent call to action. The Prime Minister has been urged to follow in the footsteps of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, but on Sunday he said he would not 'imminently' recognise Palestinian statehood. Both major parties in Australia support a two-state solution for Palestinians and Israelis, however Albanese said any resolution would need to guarantee Hamas, the de-facto ruling authority in Gaza, played no part in the future nation. There would also need to be agreements on the rebuilding of Gaza and the West Bank, and a resolution of issues over the expansion of Israeli settlements. But former Labor frontbencher Ed Husic pointed out that recognition of a Palestinian state had been part of Labor's national platform since at least 2018. 'We've already green-lighted it through our party, we've taken it to elections - the circumstances demand it,' the MP told reporters in Canberra on Monday. 'The announcement by the (Israeli) government to partition or reshape the way in which borders exist in Gaza means that we need to send a strong signal that we are opposed to that.' Former Labor Foreign Minister Bob Carr echoed the call. There were ways to address the various obstacles to the new nation being established, he said, adding those considerations were outweighed by a 'bigger fact and bigger truth'. 'Deaths are coming fast, unspeakable cruelty is being visited against babies and children in the enforcement of something not seen in the modern world - that is, an advanced state using mass starvation as a weapon of war and giving effect to a genocide,' he said. 'We will insist that the Palestinian state that comes into being will be one that opts to be a non-militarised state... that is a serious security guarantee that can be delivered in negotiations, and which the Palestinians have already offered.' Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he welcomes the 'momentum' on Palestinian statehood. 'From an Australian point of view, recognition of the state of Palestine is a matter of when, not if, and so in that light, this progress, this momentum that we're seeing is welcome, but it's also conditional,' Chalmers told Sky News. 'As Prime Minister Carney said, as Prime Minister Albanese said, we need to make sure that there's no role for Hamas in any future leadership. 'We need to make sure that the hostages are released, and so our support is conditional on meeting some of those, overcoming some of those obstacles, but from an Australian point of view, it's a matter of when, not if, and this progress and this momentum in the international community, from my point of view, is welcome.' More than 140 out of the 193 members of the United Nations already recognise the state of Palestine, including EU members Spain and Ireland. Australia has joined 14 other nations in endorsing a joint statement backing the recognition of Palestine as a vital step toward achieving a two-state solution. The statement strongly condemned the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, with Australia reaffirming its designation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and called for the immediate release of all hostages and an urgent ceasefire. It also raised alarm over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, voicing deep concern about the soaring civilian death toll and calling for increased humanitarian aid. But Opposition foreign spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said 'Australia should not reward Hamas with a pathway to statehood while they remain in control of Gaza and continue to hold Israeli hostages'. 'The Coalition has been consistently clear that there can be no recognition of a Palestinian state with Hamas still in control of Gaza, and Hamas can have no role in governing a Palestinian state,' she said on Wednesday. 'The Albanese Government should explain to Australians why it is canvassing recognition of a Palestinian state while there are still hostages in tunnels under Gaza.' The international push to recognise Palestine has been fuelled by the escalating crisis in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing starvation. Israel cut off aid to Gaza in March before re-opening channels under tight restrictions in May, measures it says are necessary to stop the supplies being diverted to fund Hamas operations. Its officials say enough food has been let into Gaza during the war and Hamas is responsible for the suffering of civilians. Israel's military offensive has already killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. The campaign began after Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation in Australia, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Multiple aid organisations, including Amnesty and Médecins Sans Frontières, have condemned the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the trickle of aid being supplied in recent months.
SBS Australia
28-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Call to criminalise AI technology used for child abuse
Bill introduced to parliament to criminalise the generative A-I tools used to create child exploitation material Report makes recommendations to minimise harm from strip searches Alex de Minaur claims victory at the Washington Open Independent politicians are pushing for artificial intelligence technology that is used to create child abuse material, to be outlawed. Kate Chaney, the Member for Curtin, introduced a private members bill to criminalise downloading software that allows users to insert a person's photos and use generative AI to sexualise them. The legislation follows a roundtable on AI-facilitated child exploitation, which called for urgent action. Dannielle Kelly from the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children welcomed the move. "We will always say that a child is always being injured or abused in the beginning of any process of AI. So there is always a real child that has gone through the system, and then it it becomes further and further away from that real child. However, if if you have a child, and if you are a parent, as Ali said, you are going to have that worry that your child is on the internet somewhere, and that this is a continuation." Labor backbencher Ed Husic says the government should be prepared to increase pressure on Israel to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said Israel's actions are completely indefensible and are clearly in breach of international law. The coalition has blamed Hamas for the lack of aid reaching Gaza. Israel's deputy chief of mission to Australia has also said they don't recognize any famine or starvation in the Gaza Strip. Mr Husic says Australia should consider stronger sanctions. "I believe that we should be prepared to do that. The government has taken some action recently, which was important. I think the combination of the statement last week, some of the images that came out last week that attracted international attention, plus the decision of the French government to recognise Palestine, those things alone, I would argue, in just the week, would have prompted the Netanyahu government to acknowledge the tenor of international concern and start allowing more aid to go in." A new report has warned of the trauma caused by a controversial strip search policy in New South Wales and the disproportionate impact on First Nations Australians. A report from Harm Reduction Australia and Redfern Legal Centre has analysed previously unreleased police data, showing more than 85 per cent of over 80,000 strip searches conducted in the past 10 years have found no drugs. Tobias Elliott-Orr, the First Nations Legal Officer at the Redfern Legal Centre, says young Indigenous people have been especially targeted with strip searches. "The big takeaway from the recommendations is the negative effect searches are having on anyone being searched but especially young people and young First Nations people. We're finding that First Nations people are obviously over-targeted and over-policed with these strip searches and normal searches. They've been akin to the level of trauma of something similar to a sexual assault. It can have long-lasting effects on not only their trust and relations with police but also on a psychological level, the harm that it's causing." The report recommends the end of strip searches targeted at children under 18 and those suspected of minor drug possession and calls for the end of drug dogs at festivals and events. The authors have also called for evidence-based drug reforms and the expansion of harm reduction programs. Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has introduced a private members bill to dump Australia's net zero climate emissions target. It marks an escalation in the group of Coalition backbenchers who are fighting against net zero, with Nationals including Matt Canavan, Colin Boyce, and Michael McCormack as well as Liberal MP Garth Hamilton pushing for the commitment to be scrapped. They say the plan is driving up power costs, hurting regional industries including mining, metals, and manufacturing, and hurting the communities in regional areas. The Opposition is currently reviewing all policies it took to the May election after their significant defeat. Nationals leader David Littleproud says he supports Mr Joyce's ability to table a bill. "We've got a process, a unanimous process, agreed to by a party room, to review this, to get the economic analysis to come back with solutions and alternatives. That's not going to be forever. That's a process that will only take a couple of months. We've got back benches that have every right to bring forward private member but members bills, you should never discourage that." The bill is expected to fail with no support from Labor or much of the crossbench. In tennis, Alex de Minaur has survived three nail-biting championship points and fought back to win the Washington Open title and re-enter the top-ten players in the world. The Australian men's number-one fought off fellow 26-year-old Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 5-7 6-1 7-6 in the final to claim his first title of the year and the 10th of his career. The hard-fought tiebreaker capped off a week full of positives for de Minaur ahead of next month's US Open in New York, while Spaniard Davidovich Fokina fell just short of claiming his first ATP Tour title. As seen on the Tennis Channel, De Minaur stayed humble after the win, saying he got lucky against his opponent. "You're way too good to not have one of these, it's coming for sure. You deserved it today, I just got lucky. You are a hell of a competitor, a hell of a player. No one on the tour wants to play you and this is not the end, this is only going up for you."
