Dutton seems to feel ascendant. Certain of the need to offer absolute support to Israel,he wants a formal rupture with Labor over foreign policy – which meant he could not join Albanese on Tuesday in calling for a ceasefire and a two-state solution as part of a motion to mark the October 7 attack one year ago.
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Australians should have seen a consensus on Tuesday. TheHamas attack on Israel was the sort of terrorist atrocity – more than 1200 dead,another 251 taken hostage,women raped – that deserved a unanimous motion to condemn the violence.
In the end,the vote formalised the divide in the Australian community and,therefore,its politics. Greens leader Adam Bandt stands for the Palestinian cause,Dutton sides with Israel and Albanese is squeezed in the middle. The Labor motion became a foreign policy declaration over 15 paragraphs,rather than a simple statement to mourn the deaths. Dutton replied with his alternative declaration in 17 paragraphs.
The conservative claim is that Albanese went too far by stressing the need for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. The reality is that United States President Joe Biden is on the record wanting a ceasefire in Gaza. In fact,his administration backed this most recently on September 25 in ajoint statement with Australia,Canada,the European Union,Japan and others.
This puts the lie to Dutton’s claim that Albanese is somehow at odds with Biden. It also raises the question of whether Dutton wants a ceasefire in Gaza – or whetherhe is at odds with Biden. It is true,however,that the Biden administration has not used the same language about a ceasefire in Lebanon,preferring instead to say there should be a diplomatic resolution.
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Will voters care? As theResolve Political Monitor showed this week,51 per cent of Australians do not want to take sides. Of the rest,23 per cent want to voice in-principle support for Israel and 12 per cent for Gaza. Many are simply not engaged in this foreign war – and politicians know it when they are in their electorates. “It is not on people’s minds at all,” says one Liberal.
What matters instead? The cost of living,of course. That is what will decide the election. And it is where Albanese and his colleagues are struggling to be heard.
The prime minister’s office tried this week to get ministers into the media to talk about domestic policies and steer the conversation away from the Middle East. This only achieved modest results,but it prepared for the bigger fights to come at the election.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil stepped up the pressure on her Greens opposite number,Max Chandler-Mather,to get the Help to Buy scheme passed,without much luck. At this rate,Labor may choose to go to the election blaming the Greens for stalling the solutions.
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Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek kept trying to gain the Greens’ support to set up the Environment Protection Agency,only to be kept waiting again because the Greens demand a separate decision to ban all new coal and gas projects. This probably means Labor will go to the election blaming the Greens for blocking an EPA.
On the cost of living,meanwhile,Treasurer Jim Chalmers went after the supermarkets with tougher merger rules on Thursday. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland revealed a draft law to keep the national broadband network in public hands,in a transparent move to accuse the Coalition of wanting to privatise the asset. Education Minister Jason Clare introduced draft law to fund public schools.
All those issues could shape the election. None of those issues really cut through this week. No wonder Albanese was showing the pressure.
David Crowe is chief political correspondent.