The push to acknowledge allegations of genocide in the Gaza Strip did not find enough support for debate at the Labor Party’s national conference, prompting criticism of the party’s internal culture.
Labor MP Ed Husic failed to win support for his proposed resolution on Israel and Palestine in the final hours of the ALP’s 50th National Conference on Saturday.
The outspoken MP said he was “surprised” that bigwigs from the energy factions had asked to prevent open debate and said he “couldn’t care less” if senior colleagues put him in the cold for speaking out on controversial issues.
Instead, conference delegates voted to adopt positions on Israel, Palestine and Hamas that were broadly consistent with the Albana government’s views, although they were criticized by the Israeli embassy.
Members of Parliament Josh Burns, a Jew, and Basem Abdo, the son of Palestinian refugees, both spoke in favor of the platform, which was intended as a show of unity.
Josh Burns and Bassem Abdo supported the party’s platform. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
The conference ended in Adelaide on Saturday afternoon without any major shock as 400 elected delegates voted to adopt the party’s National Platform for 2026.
Mr. Husic sought to amend the platform to acknowledge a United Nations investigation that found Israeli authorities “deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocities in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank.”
His resolution was initially backed by the Maritime Union of Australia, but Mr Husic said the left faction union had withdrawn its support on Saturday morning.
“I was surprised at the extraordinary amount of energy that was put into stopping this, rather than talking about it, being able to discuss it and put it out better,” Mr Husic said.
“I don’t care” if they put me in the freezer: Husik
Ahead of the triennial conference, Mr Husic spoke out on a range of issues including Labor’s support for the AUKUS submarine deal, gas tax and the Middle East.
Asked whether it was a “strategic” mistake to focus his attention, perhaps at the expense of building support for the Israel-Palestine debate, Mr Husic said it was a “fair question”.
“I’ve been consistent about what I really care about and talking about it,” he said.
Ed Husic spoke about the AUKUS submarine deal, the gas tax and the Middle East ahead of the conference. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
When asked whether senior ministers such as Defense Secretary Richard Marles and Foreign Secretary Penny Wong had sidelined him from discussions on Israel and Palestine, Mr Husic replied: “If they put me in the freezer, I won’t care.”
Senior Labor sources rejected the idea that Mr Husic had been sidelined, saying he had not attempted to raise the issue with the Prime Minister during the three-day conference.
Disagreement will be ‘big test’ for Labor
Mr Husic believed the “divisive” Rudd-Gillard era had cooled debate within the party.
“People are almost traumatized that … everything that looks like a debate is a division, a difference, a division that means the government can be overthrown,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s true at all.
“You have to be able to find a way to respectfully disagree and try to work with people and have that discussion.”
Australia’s ‘monoculture’ could end up at Labor conference
Mr Husic said Labor needed to learn a lesson as One Nation had won the support of voters who believed the party would stand up for what they believed was “right” for the country.
“I think the big test for us as one of the big parties is to be able to show that we are willing to take (voters) with us and not put current thinking in people’s ears,” he said.
Waving his ALP membership card, Mr Husic said that when people joined the party they were “not signing up for the status quo”.
“The party of change—change sometimes requires conversations and you need to bring people together,” he said.
When asked whether the Labor Party was still suitable for him, Husic answered in the affirmative.
Burns calls for ‘compassion for outrage’
While Mr. Husich addressed the media, Mr. Burns and Mr. Abdo took the conference stage together in a show of support between the Jewish and Palestinian communities.
“We stand here to demonstrate what is possible when people choose to work together, and that there is a place in the Australian Labor Party for both of us and for the communities we love,” Mr Burns said.
In an impassioned speech, Mr Burns urged party members to choose “compassion over outrage” as he secured support for the party’s platform on Israel and Palestine.
He acknowledged that the document “does not reflect everything that any of us might wish to say, nor does it reflect every aspect of public policy.”
“But through hours of conversation, compromise and respect, we both stand here together,” he said.
Abdo says humanity is ‘universal’
Mr Abdo said the party’s platform committed Labor to “upholding the foundations that Australia helped shape and has long defended – a rules-based order”.
“For generations of Palestinians living under occupation, many of the things we take for granted remain inaccessible,” he said.
“The occupation permeates homes, schools, workplaces, communities every single day.”
Mr Abdo said human dignity is “universal” and “should never be defined by where you were born or who you are”.
Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the conference on Friday. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
He also thanked his colleague Mr Burns for his “conscientiousness in this difficult process” leading up to the conference.
The procedural motion allowing Mr Burns and Mr Abdo to speak was put forward by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Mr Marles.
Speaking at the conference, Mr Marles thanked delegates who made “compromise” to reach consensus.
Labor sets positions on Israel and Palestine
The Labor Party platform, designed to guide the party over the next three years, opposes the “annexation of Palestinian territory” and calls on Israel to stop “illegal settlement activities.”
In July 2024, the International Criminal Court declared that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories violated international law and ordered their dismantling.
Israel has rejected the illegality of the settlements, and senior far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of whom are under Australian sanctions, have advocated expanding them.
Labour’s platform also calls on the government to take “further measures and sanctions as necessary” to tackle the problem.
Recognizing that Australia has “always opposed the death penalty as an inhumane and degrading form of punishment,” the platform condemns “recent Knesset legislation and all other discriminatory laws targeting Palestinians.”
Australia imposes sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers
This year, the Israeli government passed laws introducing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of terrorism-related killings in the West Bank.
The platform also states the belief that “Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live their lives free from terror and violence,” supports a two-state solution, and “unequivocally condemns” terrorism and violent extremism, “including those perpetrated by Hamas.”
The Israeli embassy last week issued a lengthy statement criticizing the then draft platform, arguing that it weakened the Labor Party’s position on Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
“The Embassy respectfully states that some elements of the draft national platform risk placing responsibility for the conflict on one side,” the statement said.