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The final day of Labor’s carefully stage-managed national conference threatens to be dominated by a heated debate on Israel and Palestine, as former cabinet minister Ed Husic pushes a resolution referencing claims of genocide and apartheid against Israel.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is scrambling to shepherd through a compromise wording to the party platform that is supported by MPs Josh Burns, who is Jewish, and Basem Abdo, the son of Palestinian refugees, who were both preparing to back the agreed position on Saturday.
Husic, who has been working with the Labor Friends of Palestine group, introduced a resolution on Friday pushing for stronger criticism of Israel than contained in the draft party platform.
His move came as peak Jewish groups were already furious at the party for dropping wording calling for the listed terror group Hamas to disarm, and reform of the Palestinian Authority.
The right-wing SDA union has put forward a rival motion seeking to take a harder position against Hamas.
The resolution introduced by Husic references a United Nations inquiry that determined “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank”.
It also acknowledges a 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion that Israel was committing apartheid in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The resolution calls for Labor to withdraw defence and trade representatives from Australia’s embassy in Tel Aviv and for authorities to “track, investigate and, where appropriate prosecute” dual nationals returning to Australia who have breached international law serving in the Israeli Defence Forces.
It also supports trade sanctions connected to “illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
Meanwhile, it calls for the government to move quickly to exchange ambassadors and consolidate full diplomatic ties with Palestine after last year’s recognition of Palestinian statehood.
If adopted, the resolution would sit in an addendum to the official policy platform document.
Several Labor figures tried to talk Husic out of his plan on Friday afternoon, but concluded he was intent on provoking a debate and encouraging defections from left-faction delegates who agree with the substance of his resolution.
The left-wing Maritime Union of Australia was expected to second his resolution.
“Ed has his own motivations and they aren’t the party’s or the government’s. Such is life,” one Labor source said.
This masthead reported earlier this week that Husic, a fierce critic of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, had been pushing internally for Labor to go further in its criticisms of Israel.
Husic, who was relegated to the backbench after a cabinet reshuffle last year, on Thursday told the ABC: “I don’t want people going to fight for Hamas. I certainly don’t want people to go and fight with the IDF. I think Australians should stay out of that theatre.”
In a lengthy statement issued ahead of the conference, Husic said he thought it was inappropriate for the Israeli embassy to call for the draft platform to be changed. “I could never imagine Australian government through our embassy or our officials issuing such public commentary in that way,” he said.
The current wording to the draft platform agreed by factional heavyweights calls out settler violence in the West Bank, condemns a controversial new death penalty law and backs two international courts considering genocide and war crimes charges against Israel.
The draft platform condemns the use of violence, including by Hamas, but omits an explicit reference contained in earlier versions that “Hamas must disarm and can have no role in the State of Palestine”.
An earlier draft also said that Labor “will continue to work with the international community to hold the Palestinian Authority to its commitments and to encourage normalised relations between Israel and its neighbours”.
“Instead of providing an honest assessment of the leadership on both sides of the conflict, the draft platform regurgitates the same old one-eyed obsession with blaming Israel,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said.
“Failing to hold the Palestinian Authority accountable for its bad faith and perennial incompetence is not doing the Palestinian people any favours. It’s holding them back.”
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network is calling for Labor to back a ban of military trade with Israel and for the Future Fund to divest from companies operating in Israel the group says are complicit in war crimes.
“Labor can do the right thing at this conference if they listen to their conscience by calling out the genocide and ending defence exports,” executive officer Katie Shammas said.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.
Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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