A twist in the Israel-Hamas conflict turns the Partisan debate in Australia more partisan and a South Australia Politics update.

It’s been another messy week in the Israel-Hamas conflict and also a busy few days in South Australian Politics. In the Israel-Hamas conflict Israel struck down a military aid truck which contained an Aussie who was killed while trying to deliver aid across the border, this then struck a new low in the Partisan debate back in Australia as rather than being a unifying moment of grief, both sides went back to their bases and used the attack to deliver cheap political sprays at the other side. Meanwhile in SA Politics, Geoff Brock who has recently come back to Parliament has decided to leave the Ministry and as a result of that you had former Speaker now and also more importantly former Liberal Dan Cregan join the Labor Ministry and then you had Leon Bignall the member for Mawson become the Parliamentary Speaker. So in this blog I will discuss the Politics that is the latest conflict in the Israel-Hamas conflict before talking about SA Politics for a bit.

So as I alluded to above the Israel-Hamas conflict escalated further this week with the killing of aid workers carrying aid into Gaza. It added to the temperature in Australian Politics because one of the aid workers was an Australian. Now I hoped that the killing of an aid worker would unify the Country as one but instead it galvanised the Labor Party too act in a move to being more Pro Palestine and it moved the Liberals too being more Pro Israel, with the varying levels depending on who was speaking. The anger from Labor over the killing of the aid worker was immediate and fair enough, the Labor Party have been trying to walk the tightrope of being more centrist on this issue and being pro Israel while still saying Israel had to follow the rules of war. This incident has changed that and Penny Wong in a keynote address did not rule out the recognition of Palestine as a country as part of the ultimate solution to having a two state solution which that bit I believe is Bi-Partisan. That statement about recognising Palestine drew immediate howls of protest from Pro Israel quarters and the right of the Liberal Party particularly because you recognise Palestine and to a degree at least it gives the Hamas Government validation. I think the Labor Party have mostly been right in their reaction here at least in comparison to what the Libs and particularly Peter Dutton has done but more on that in a minute but the recognition of Palestine as a country was an overreach. Onto Peter Dutton and he basically said that Penny Wong was clueless in doing what she did and that what she did would only lead to a rise in Anti-Semitism. That was a woah boy enough statement but then he went further and said that the Anti-Semitic Pro Palestine protests at the Sydney Opera House were comparable to the Port Arthur massacre and I don’t even at that. That was routinely criticised by Bridget Archer a fellow Liberal MP and Anthony Albanese the PM who was lost for words at how dangerous a statement that was. I have a few things to comment, firstly Anti-Semitism is on the rise around western democracies, I don’t think anyone denies that but you can’t ignore the fact that hatred of Muslims and Islamaphobia is also on the rise too. Then the actual comparing of a protest and yes hatred was spilled and it got out of hand but to compare that to Australia’s worst ever massacre… you don’t do that if you are a serious contender to be the leader of our nation. Then there’s the comment about Policing being soft on Anti Israel Protests and again, I felt like I was listening to Suella Braverman in the UK with her hatred of the police spewing out…. just so much crass politics. Lastly, there was the commentary on Education which is a favourite of the Right these days in their anti-woke parade and while he has somewhat of a point, Unis are sometimes teaching students woke ideology to say that’s part of a conspiracy too indoctrinate all Uni Students against right wing politics is a; an insult to the students apparent inability to think for themselves and b; ignores the fact that there are think tanks for the far right also out there.

Now onto SA Politics and the Liberal Party continue to not be able to catch a break. This time it is the loss of a former Liberal turned Independent joining the Labor ranks. If that sounds familiar its because it is, Martin Hamilton Smith the former Liberal leader and member for Waite did it not long ago and now it is Dan Cregan the former Liberal and member for Kavel who has left the job of Speaker to become a Labor Minister. This then opened up the spot of speakership which went to the member for Mawson Leon Bignall who had to resign his Labor membership although interestingly Peter Malinauskas said that was only going to be a temporary thing. So this was all necessitated by Geoff Brock announcing he would not continue as a Minister. This is not surprising as he has only recently returned to State Parliament following a heart attack. I think this is a disaster for the Libs, Geoff Brock has announced he will stay in Parliament and not vacate his seat at the next election which in my mind almost guarantees it will stay in Independents hands. Dan Cregan who holds the seat by the safest margin in the state gets his dream job of being Minister and probably makes that seat even safer in his hands and Leon Bignall who had one stage won that seat by only 100 votes now holds a safe seat and can appeal to his community as an independent voice to the community making that seat harder to nab from Labor. All this also comes only a few weeks after the shocking by-election loss of Dunstan by the Libs to Labor.

Thanks for reading my blog, stay tuned for my next blog next week which may actually be on US Politics.

The week in Federal Politics- It’s all about the economy, no wait the Security of our nation

It’s been another busy and shitshow of a week in Australian Federal Politics as we hastily head to the end of the Parliamentary sitting year. The first week of the sitting week was again messy and nasty for the government as the fallout from the high courts decision to overturn indefinite detention led to the worst type of politics again show and rear its ugly head. I think the first thing to note and the Government certainly wanted to make this point was that it was a High Court decision and not a government decision but the Opposition didn’t care about semantics here, they smelt blood in the water and went for the jugular on this decision first asking why so many “hardened” criminals had been released into the community and then after that, why the Government had been so slow to react to the high courts decision and then why did they only make a decision to pass legislation to close the apparent loophole after the Opposition’s attacks on the government over the high court decision. I use “” because that is the Opposition’s language, not mine and indeed not all the members being released into the community are hardened criminals or indeed criminals at all. There’s also and this was raised on Insiders on Sunday the fact that Australian’s committing this sort of crimes wouldn’t be indefinitely detained either so there’s that hypocrisy too. However if you look at the politics this is perfect territory for the Liberal Party and they knew that overreach or not they were onto a political winner here. Labor realised this too and it was why by Thursday they rushed through legislation on the matter through the Parliament and accepted in principle all 6 Coalition Ammendments. As I said though because it is Peter Dutton there was still political overreach and the motion on Wednesday Afternoon linking Anti-Semitism being on the rise in the community and the high court decision was a low moment for Peter Dutton and it was very noticeable that Anti-Semitism was not referenced again by the Opposition in that context for the rest of the week. The Political Overreach from Peter Dutton overshadowed I think an important point which is that Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the community and had of it been made in a non political way then it would have been a fair point to make. Of course Pro-Palestine marches continued this week as well as the odd Pro-Israel Protest and what I noticed from the Pro-Palestine marches is it all about protecting Gaza lives which is all well and good but nothing about the loss of Israel lives from Hamas which started the conflict and the fact that it is Hamas that are essentially using Palestinian’s as human shields which is also atrocious. Onto non security issues this week and the long awaited report into Infrastructure Projects was sort of made public with the Executive Summary released and with it a number of projects were given the heave ho. That went down like a lead balloon with the states particularly Queensland who launched a grenade at the Federal Government both in State Parliament and then on X(Formerly known as Twitter). The Federal Government, screamed well we have to do this because of the mess the former Government made and that is true to an extent but that doesn’t mean that people wont be angry in the affected areas at losing their projects. I would also note as put on Insiders yesterday that there weren’t too many upset Labor MP’s or Labor marginal prospective candidates upset at the projects that were cancelled. Another Controversial move that came on the weekend was the Government announcing it would tighten the eligibility criteria for people with Autism to enter the NDIS Scheme as a way of making the funding of the NDIS more sustainable. This came only a week or so after a report came out showing a so called link between increasing rates of Autism diagnosis and the increased spending of NDIS on Autism Participants. So from that point of view I was not surprised at the Government’s decision but its a bad one nonetheless. The reason its a bad decision is the previous government already tightened the screws on eligibility for NDIS for people on the Autism Spectrum and so this is a further harsh cut to the scheme, especially when for a lot of Autism Spectrum People there are no alternatives to get help as States no longer do disability support. Lastly, before I move onto the main part of my blog and the Cross-Bench expanded by one this week as Russell Broadbent the member for Monash who lost preselection 162-13 the previous weekend decided to quit the Liberal Party and sit on the cross-bench for the remainder of the Parliamentary term however long that is. It’s another blow to Peter Dutton who loses his third Coalition member of the term, after losing the member for Aston to Labor at a by-election and then also losing the Nats member for Calare to the Cross-Bench over the Coalitions opposition of the Voice to Parliament referendum. It led to the government having some fun at the end of QT on Thursday to make fun of the seating arrangements of the Parliament as it currently stands with the references to the number of members that the Coalition had lost this term, that didn’t sit well with the Coalition who staged a walkout from Parliament after a move to gag the Speaker didn’t work. Now onto the main part of the blog and I will again discuss the week in Politics, before moving onto where the Polling numbers as we edge closer to the end of Parliament sitting for 2023.

So Monday was the start of the Parliamentary sitting week and it started with Monique Ryan the Teal Independent for Kooyong questioning why Michelle Rowland the communications minister had been dining with interest groups from the gambling community. The government responded to the Robodebt Royal Commission with an acceptance of all recommendations of the royal commission report. The PM said the parliament has a responsibility not to politicise the Israel-Hamas conflict, which came as the Opposition used Senate QT to continue its questioning of Penny Wong on the governments position on the conflict. Finally, Josh Burns a local inner Melbourne MP for Labor warned pro Palestinian protesters to not intimidate the local Jewish community, this came in the wake of the Caulfield protests turning ugly. That takes us to question time and the first question was on Penny Wong’s comments on Insiders on Sunday and whether her stance on Israel and Hamas was the governments position. There was then a question on the cost of living pressures of the People. After another two questions on cost of living, there was then a question on the Live Sheep Export Ban by the Nats Leader. There was then a question on the release of “hardcore” criminals from indefinite detention. And that ends question time.

That takes us to Tuesday and Protestors rocked up to Parliament House calling for the release of Israeli Hostages. Russell Broadbent quit the Liberal Party in a dummy spit for losing preselection in his seat. In Economic News, Consumer Confidence has taken a real hit as a result of the latest interest rate hike. Lastly, Labor accused the Coalition of playing politics on the matter of the high court decision on Indefinite Detention. That takes us to QT and the first question was from Peter Dutton to the Immigration Minister about the release of criminals from Indefinite Detention. And every Liberal Opposition Question in Question Time continued to be on this theme.

Onto Wednesday, hump day and it was a fiery QT where Peter Dutton was accused of stoking fears of Anti-Semitism for political gains. Claire O’Neill the Home Affairs Minister said that the people being released from indefinite detention would face very strict visa conditions. Albanese is back on the airplane again this time to the USA to attend the APEC Summit. Deputy PM Richard Marles said Israel had a right to defend itself against Hamas and that any ceasefire could not be one sided. Lastly, Don Farrell the Trade Minister said that the last of the China diplomatic freezes and product tariffs should be removed by Christmas. That takes us to QT and the first Opposition Question was on the topic of Indefinite Detention being ended and that was the topic for all of QT culminating in a suspension of standing orders which linked the high court decision to rising Anti-Semitism in the country and also criticising the PM for jet setting off to the USA again.

That takes us to Thursday and Richard Marles was acting PM for the day as Anthony Albanese was off to the USA. State Premiers learnt which Infrastructure Projects would be slashed as a result of the Infrastructure Review, it led to a lot of anger from the Queensland Labor Government. Two Labor MP’s and a Nats MP along with the Greens and the Australian Palestine Advocacy Group stood together to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It came as the fallout from the shitshow in QT came to be yesterday with Josh Burns saying Peter Dutton shouldn’t conflate antisemitism for Political Purposes and Tony Burke leader of the House said it was one of Dutton’s worst performances of his political career. That takes us to QT and the first question was asking for an update on the legislation being passed to deal with the release of criminals as a result of the High Courts decision on the Indefinite Detention. And Again QT was the same theme from the Opposition for every Question in QT.

Onto Friday and it was a quieter day with only the Senate sitting, Zoe Daniels another of the teal Independents said there was great anxiety in her community about the Israel-Hamas Conflict. Thousands of School Students took to the streets to protest the lack of climate action in the community, this was despite several politicians telling them not to do so. The Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has reiterated his dislike of the Infrastructure changes too Queensland.

That takes us to the weekend. Saturday saw the release of information saying that Australian Submarine divers had been allegedly targeted by Chinese sonars. It comes as the new legislation on Indefinite Detention came into effect. Sunday as always was Insiders day and it saw the Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson be on the show. He is a Chinese Hawk and very Pro Israel so a lot of his rhetoric on those issues were not surprising. In other news the Government have announced double funding for the local councils for its roads to recovery program. Thousands gathered across the country for a march for Pro-Palestine rallies. Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil said the government may take additional steps on the returning of indefinite detainees to indefinite detention once the courts full explanation of its decision becomes clear. And former Hawke and Keating Minister Gerry Hand passed away.

So where do we stand in Australian Politics after the week in Politics? Well, there were a number of polls out this week which showed a continued narrowing of the Labor Lead with Labor leading by as little as 51-49 2PP in a couple of polls over the last few weeks, You still have the one outlier poll in Resolve showing Labor ahead 57-43 2PP but as I just said that seems to be an outlier at this point and not reflective of the closing gap that seems to be taking hold in the upcoming election. As I’ve said the Coalition have so many fronts they are fighting fires on, be it Labor, the Greens and Independents that I can’t see them getting to 76 seats at the next election, that would require a net gain of 21 seats at the next election a tall task. However Labor are currently on 78 seats so a loss of 3 seats by them would get them into minority government which is a much more realistic expectation. With the Queensland Government on the nose as a Labor point of view its becoming harder to imagine Labor making too many gains from their low base of 5 seats in Queensland already and that could be a problem if the Labor Party start losing ground in other states. I think Labor still deserve favouritism going into the next election but the honeymoon is finally over I reckon.

Thanks for reading my blog, with Australian Federal Politics off this week, I will probably do another international blog next week unless something crazy happens in Australian Politics.

The Politics of the Middle East – Breaking down the Political Reaction to the war in the Middle East

It’s been a very interesting week in Politics, first up before I get started on this blog, by focussing on the Politics of the Israel vs Hamas War, I am not going to diminish the loss of Innocent life that has befallen all sides of the Conflict in this war, I am deeply distressed by the loss of innocent life on all sides and while the Hamas Terrorist Attack on Israel was bloody and deserving of a strident and harsh response Israel have probably gone too far in their response and in many ways have been suckered in by Hamas to overreact to the initial attack and now become the “bad guy” in this conflict. In this blog, however I want to focus on the Political Response to this attack and unfortunately as with many things these days it has fallen on Partisian lines.

So I’ll start with the right’s response to this attack and unsurprisingly they have fallen largely on the pro Israel side of the debate, even going as far as to unblinkingly support all of Israel’s response to the Hamas Terrorist Attack. This has led to the strange sight as just one example of backbenchers Scott Morrison and out of Parliament Boris Johnson going to Israel to wrap their arms around the Israeli Government and fully support the Israel position regardless of how violent the response has gotten. This was a not so subtle prose to the governments of the day to not walk away from a full strident defence of Israel. I think the subtle messaging of the right on this issue is this, we need to defend Israel because if they fall, that clears up the whole Middle East to a non-democratic society that is suspicious or plain hostile to Western Democracies. I note that the USA Republicans have suddenly found their voice on this issue calling for sole support of Israel in Budget Defence Funding even at the expense of not doing anything further on Ukraine which is odd but is falling in line of the position that has been taken by Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy. I think there are two more important points to make as to why the Right in general are pro-Israel, firstly, There’s the religious element and obviously the Christianity argument that has becomes associated with the modern right is obviously leans to being pro Israel a Christian State vs Hamas and Palestine, a non-christian state. The Second and just as important point is that the right are naturally suspicious and particularly the far right of global organisations and the fact that the UN and other global organisations are generally Anti-Israel or at least appear to be galvanises right wing support to Israel’s cause.

Now we move onto to the Left’s and particularly the far left’s response to this issue. The far left tend to be more non-religious and particularly non-Christian and as a result are a lot more sympathetic to the plight of the Palestine People who they see as the innocent victims who are being slaughtered by the Israeli Government, they are also far more suspicious of the anti Muslim rhetoric of the Israeli Government which leads them to be more anti-Israel. I know in Australia from the get go, the far left i.e the Greens have been quick to call for a ceasefire and have been quick to label the Israeli response as war crimes which is a very serious allegation, indeed the Greens in Australia staged a walk-out from Parliament earlier this week which was all about the perceived failure of the Labor Government to call out Israel Response as a war crime and that there should be an immediate ceasefire. This is a similar approach being held to the heads of Sir Keir Starmer in the UK who is being called to resign by the far left over his approach to Israel and Hamas Conflict and the attacks on Biden by the far left for being too pro-Israel. Indeed there was an attack ad put against a Muslim Democratic member to say she was too anti-Israel for not calling out the beheading of babies by Hamas Terrorists. Before you say, oh the Republicans stooping into the mud bucket again, how bad are they, this was a Democratic attack ad against one of their own. I think the far left, particularly in Western Democracies are slightly missing the perspective taken by those in non Western Democracies, while the West cares more about the individual, the Non-Western Democracies care more about the rights of the collective group and they see the ends as being the means that justify the end results. I also think the far Left are a lot more likely to be younger and as a result have not seen as much of the horrors of war and the fact that sometimes war is needed to combat something truly evil and as a result have a pacifist nature too them that the far right who tend to be more hawkish don’t have.

Lastly, there’s the Centrist response. That is the approach being taken by most of the Western World Leaders and the mainstream of the Major Parties at this point who are trying too stay elected by the vast majority of the society. In that being their response has mostly been to fully call out the initial Hamas Attack as a heinous Terrorist attack and then called for a pause in the Israeli attack while Humanitarian Efforts can be taken to protect the lives of the innocent. They have also slowly shifted from being fully supportive of the Israel Response to being a more nuanced argument of yes, you can respond with aggression but the rules of war still apply and the need to not go too far are also important because the world is still watching. Two speeches illustrated this nuance well I thought. First was Joe Biden’s response from the Oval Office and he said after September 11 America were angry and mistakes were made from reacting immediately in anger, he implored Israel to not make the same mistake. Meanwhile Penny Wong, the Labor Foreign Minister of Australia said that Israel while having a right to defend itself was still under obligations to follow the rules of law and that the world was watching to ensure things didn’t go too far. Lastly, I think Anthony Albanese the Australian PM had a good point that Israel had to ensure its response didn’t make this a wider conflict and that is a not so subtle reference to Iran and their connections to Hezbollah who have threatened to get involved against Israel should Israel go too far in their response on the Gaza Strip.

Thanks for reading my blog, stay tuned next week for my blog on USA Politics where we have met the one year to go before the big 2024 USA Election.