Latest news with #JoshBurns
Sky News AU
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Greens ‘hyper-fixated' on the Israel-Palestine conflict
Labor MP Josh Burns has accused the Greens party of being 'hyper-fixated' on the issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Mr Burns ran an open ticket in his seat of Macnamara, refusing to preference the Greens. 'If you are talking about all of that, then you are not talking about the things that actually matter to people in Australia,' Mr Burns told Sky News host Chris Kenny.
Sky News AU
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Labor's Environmental Action Network pushes for 70 per cent emissions cut by 2035 as left faction grows
Labor's environmental activist wing has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to adopt a 70 per cent emissions reduction target by 2035, following his decisive election outcome. The election delivered a boost to the Labor Left, which now outnumbers the Right in caucus and holds greater sway over internal decision-making. Meanwhile, Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN)—a network of ALP members and supporters— wants the government to set a stronger 2035 climate target. LEAN backed several Labor MPs and candidates during the 2025 campaign, including Josh Burns and Jerome Laxale. In return for its support, the lobby group has called on the Albanese government to pursue 70 per cent emissions reductions by 2035. The Labor Party's path to net zero so far has only set a target of 43 per cent by 2030. The push sparked backlash from Nationals Senator Matt Canavan, who told Sky News the government should hold a referendum on the net zero target by 2050. 'The Labor Party are talking about wanting a 70 per cent emissions reduction by just 2035,' Mr Canavan said. 'What is the point of this? How is that going to help people? If they go down that path, the Australian people deserve to have a referendum on net zero. 'A proper choice. No one ever has had a vote on net zero.' The Albanese government has not adopted any 2035 target and said it was waiting for the Climate Change Authority to deliver its formal advice on the matter. 'Well, we haven't made any decisions about that yet,' Labor Senator Murray Watt told Sky News. 'What we did well before the election was ask for advice from the independent Climate Change Authority on what the 2035 targets should be. 'They made a decision to delay finalising that because of the change in the world context.' The United States abandoned the net zero Paris Agreement in 2025 following the election of President Donald Trump. Asked whether Labor's strong election win gave it more room to pursue ambitious climate policy, Mr Watt tempered expectations. 'You would have heard the Prime Minister and others make very clear that we're absolutely determined to respect the mandate that we've been given,' he said. 'We're not going to get ahead of ourselves by leaping into decisions, whether it be on this topic or anything else.' Mr Albanese told reporters on Monday he would 'not get carried away' with his larger majority in the House of Representatives. The 48th Parliament of Australia has since been touted as the most progressive parliament in history according to the Australian Greens. Early election projections show the minor party set to hold the balance of power in the Senate and emerge as the only effective check on the resurgent Labor government. Labor legislated a 43 per cent cut to emissions by 2030 in its first term and set its target of 82 per cent renewables in the grid by the same year. Energy experts have since warned that target is under threat due to slow infrastructure rollout and resistance to transmission lines and wind projects. The next formal update to Australia's climate targets under the Paris Agreement is due in 2025.
The Age
23-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Just not kosher. The diabolical dilemma facing Jewish voters in Macnamara
Jewish Australia's relationship with the Albanese government is, to put it mildly, complicated. Nowhere is this more acutely felt than in Australia's most Jewish electorate, Macnamara, currently held by Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns. With early voting now open, electors in Melbourne's bagel belt suburbs of Caulfield, Elsternwick and Ripponlea are weighing what message to send, if any, about the government's response to October 7, the war in Gaza and the corrosive forces that have spun off into their communities. Like the abysmal conflict still raging in Gaza, there are no good choices on offer. To understand the prevailing Jewish sentiment towards Anthony Albanese and his government heading into this election campaign, this column sought the views of Peter Wertheim. Wertheim is one of the co-chief executives of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, a peak body which represents about 200 Jewish schools, synagogues, sporting clubs, and cultural organisations. As an organisation, it has been a vociferous critic of the federal government's tepid response to antisemitism unleashed by the war. Wertheim is also one of the few Jewish community leaders with a direct line to the PM. As a former Slater and Gordon lawyer whose clients included trade unions and the Labor Party, and an honorary solicitor for the Aboriginal Legal Service and East Timor Relief Association, he has a long-standing relationship with the ALP, Albanese, and social causes dear to the party's true believers. In 2011, Wertheim and Albanese forged an alliance against a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign by the Marrickville council. For Albanese, the issue was partly personal, as the local mayor was trying to oust his wife at the time, Carmel Tebutt, from her state seat of Marrickville. Having spoken to Albanese about it over the years, Wertheim has no doubt that Albanese's stance against the BDS was principled and sincere. 'I think he understands that demonising an entire nation is racist and wrong in every way and no way to end a conflict,' he says.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Just not kosher. The diabolical dilemma facing Jewish voters in Macnamara
Jewish Australia's relationship with the Albanese government is, to put it mildly, complicated. Nowhere is this more acutely felt than in Australia's most Jewish electorate, Macnamara, currently held by Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns. With early voting now open, electors in Melbourne's bagel belt suburbs of Caulfield, Elsternwick and Ripponlea are weighing what message to send, if any, about the government's response to October 7, the war in Gaza and the corrosive forces that have spun off into their communities. Like the abysmal conflict still raging in Gaza, there are no good choices on offer. To understand the prevailing Jewish sentiment towards Anthony Albanese and his government heading into this election campaign, this column sought the views of Peter Wertheim. Wertheim is one of the co-chief executives of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, a peak body which represents about 200 Jewish schools, synagogues, sporting clubs, and cultural organisations. As an organisation, it has been a vociferous critic of the federal government's tepid response to antisemitism unleashed by the war. Wertheim is also one of the few Jewish community leaders with a direct line to the PM. As a former Slater and Gordon lawyer whose clients included trade unions and the Labor Party, and an honorary solicitor for the Aboriginal Legal Service and East Timor Relief Association, he has a long-standing relationship with the ALP, Albanese, and social causes dear to the party's true believers. In 2011, Wertheim and Albanese forged an alliance against a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign by the Marrickville council. For Albanese, the issue was partly personal, as the local mayor was trying to oust his wife at the time, Carmel Tebutt, from her state seat of Marrickville. Having spoken to Albanese about it over the years, Wertheim has no doubt that Albanese's stance against the BDS was principled and sincere. 'I think he understands that demonising an entire nation is racist and wrong in every way and no way to end a conflict,' he says.
Sky News AU
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Labor officials 'blocked' Jewish MP Josh Burns from appearing on Sky News in 'extraordinary' move, Sharri Markson says
Sharri Markson has reacted to the "extraordinary" cancellation of an interview with Jewish MP Josh Burns, which the Sky News host said came as a result of pressure from Labor officials. Mr Burns, who represents Melbourne's Macnamara electorate, has appeared on Sky News several times, notably to discuss rising incidents of antisemitism in the wake of Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel. The MP is one of several Labor politicians to have had his electoral office vandalised by anti-Israel demonstrators and has called out rhetoric from the Greens which many in the Jewish community claimed was stoking hatred. As a result, Mr Burns has waged a quiet battle with his own party over how to direct voting preferences at the upcoming Federal Election, with the Jewish MP refusing to allow his preferences to flow to the minor party. On Monday night, Markson said Mr Burns had been due to appear on her show in part to discuss the preference issue, only to subsequently cancel the interview. "I invited Labor MP Josh Burns onto my show tonight. In fact, I've been asking him to come on for most of this election campaign," she said. "Josh Burns did what no other Labor MP has done: he refused to preference the Greens in his Victorian seat of Macnamara. He fought and fought with Labor for weeks and he simply refused to direct voters to preference the Greens. Instead he's running an open ticket. "I think the Albanese government has been horrific when it comes to its treatment of the Jewish community and Israel. They've been weak and morally corrupt, but Josh Burns has been pushing back against this. He proves that just because you are federal Labor, doesn't mean you have to completely lack any moral clarity when it comes to the antisemitism crisis. "Burns has been on my program several times and I speak to him often. "He said he would come on my show - and he was keen to come on tonight in fact - but then he cancelled his appearance. The reason? Labor Party officials did not want him to come on my show. Yes, Albanese's team has blocked a Jewish Labor MP from coming on my show." Markson described the move as "extraordinary". has contacted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's office for comment. Mr Burns' decision not to hand preferences to the Greens comes despite Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, another high profile Jewish MP, electing to instruct voters to list minor party candidate Matthew Kirwan as number two on ballots. In an apparent effort to disguise Mr Kirwan's affiliation with the Greens, Mr Dreyfus' how-to-vote cards only list the minor party candidate's name. It is standard practice for how-to-vote cards to list both candidates names and their party affiliation.
