Anthony Albanese has secured a foreign policy victory at NSW Labor’s state conference, with softer border protection and anti-Israel proposals being rejected by the party’s largest branch.
The NSW party voted to mirror the foreign policies from federal Labor’s policy platform, blocking proposals from branches that would cause political headaches for the Opposition Leader months out from a federal election.
The recommendation from NSW Labor’s policy committee, which was waved through by delegates at the online state conference on Saturday, was for the state platform to refer to the national platform “with respect to the subject matter of Australia’s place in the world”.
The move by NSW ALP to endorse federal Labor’s policies killed off a push from branches to oppose offshore processing of asylum-seekers and accuse Israel of “ethnic cleansing”.
The national platform, which cannot be contradicted by the parliamentary Labor Party, was finalised in March at the “virtual” special platform conference.
Controversially, the national platform for the first time recognised the state of Palestine despite strong opposition from sections of the party’s Right faction.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong successfully moved an amendment to the ALP’s platform on Palestine at the March conference, which urged a two-state solution but also called on the next Labor government “to recognise Palestine as a state”.
The national platform calls for the Palestinian statehood to “be an important priority” for Labor if it wins the next election, drawing criticism from Jewish groups.
There were NSW branches proposing that the state party go further in its support of Palestine.
The Dulwich Hill branch, which is in Mr Albanese’s federal electorate of Grayndler, proposed a motion that would condemn “the ongoing Israeli annexation by stealth of Palestinian land” and the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians through the expansion of illegal settlements”.
The motion would also recognise “the routine oppression and dehumanisation of Palestinian people denying their dignity and rights to self-determination, and condemning them to live under perpetual Israeli occupation”.
In June, Senator Wong condemned the Queensland Labor Party for backing a resolution that was similar to the motion proposed by the Dulwich Hill branch.
She said viewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from one perspective “will not advance the cause of peace”.
On refugee policy, the Auburn branch proposed NSW Labor support ending the bipartisan commitment to offshore processing.
“Labor’s policy should be framed to provide a positive and compassionate approach by a Labor government to the treatment of refugees, rather than a reaction to the punitive and cruel approach of the Coalition government,” the proposal said. The Sefton branch also called for an end to offshore processing and for a pathway to citizenship for asylum-seekers.
In an interview with The Australian in July, Mr Albanese sought to neutralise China as a political issue by declaring that restarting dialogue with Beijing would be a challenge no matter who wins the next election.
“There is no difference between the political parties in Australia on key issues of standing up for human rights, on national sovereignty, on support for human rights for the Uighurs, on the South China Sea being important, on Hong Kong,” Mr Albanese said.
Source: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/foreign-policy-win-for-albo-at-nsw-conference/news-story/8c3d84bf6a14cd1828515c7fa0cb4781
