Key Points
- Sydney's Town Hall was surrounded by hundreds of demonstrators flying Palestinian flags on Saturday.
- Albanese did not address the government's position on Israel's attacks in Gaza during the NSW Labor conference.
- Almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas-Israel war started on 7 October.
NSW Labor has sent a message to its counterparts in Canberra, passing a motion demanding the federal government recognise Palestinian statehood.
The motion, moved by state minister Jihad Dib at the state's party conference on Saturday, was met with rapturous applause and a standing ovation by delegates inside Sydney Town Hall.
Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon (left) during the NSW Labor state conference in Sydney on Saturday. Source: AAP / Jeremy Piper
Dib said recognising a Palestinian state "goes to the very core of the Labor values of justice, human dignity and solidarity".
"By recognising Palestine, we recognise a sovereign people who cannot have their land stolen by illegal settlements or be subjected to the inhumane bombardment that we are seeing right now," he told the conference.
"We need two states living side by side ... we recognise the spirit of Palestinians and their dream of self-determination, and it will never be broken."
It puts further pressure on the federal government to take stronger action regarding the Gaza war.
Labor's 2023 national platform specifically calls on Australia to recognise Palestinian statehood and for the issue to be a priority for the government.
Former Labor Senator Fatima Payman was suspended and then resigned from the party after crossing the floor of the Senate to vote for a Greens motion to recognise Palestinian statehood.
The PM criticised the Greens motion and said it did nothing to advance peace but then chastised the minor party for not supporting a Labor proposal.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong tried to amend the Greens' motion with a suffix "as a part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace" but it was voted down.
Hundreds protest Albanese's 'complicity' in Gaza war
Senator Payman has consistently said rank-and-file Labor members overwhelmingly support Palestinian statehood.
The PM's winding speech did not address the government's position on Israel's months-long attack on Palestinian territories, despite being a source of tension among the party's delegates.
Pro-Palestinian protests met Albanese outside the conference, while one delegate unfurled a Palestinian flag over the balcony railings during his speech.
A delegate unfurled a Palestinian flag during the prime minister's speech. Source: AAP / Jeremy Piper
But while it was not on Albanese's agenda, Israel's invasion of Gaza is what drove the loudest response on the day, with Sydney's Town Hall surrounded by crowds flying Palestinian flags.
The party conference was a chance to draw attention to the government's complicity in the violence in Gaza, Students Against War member Luke Ottavi told AAP.
"Albanese continues to send parts of the F-35 fighter jets that Israel uses to rain bombs on Gaza," Ottavi said.
"These parts are made in Australia, and are not made anywhere else, continuing the flow of those means that Israel is able to continue its massacre of Palestinians."
Israel's war on Gaza continues to dog the Labor government and the party itself as it comes under fire from protests from around the country and seeds division in its ranks.
Paul Harridge of the Palestinian Action Group, who organised the protest on Saturday, has been attending Sydney's pro-Palestine protests since they began last October.
"All the eyes in the world are on them, and it would be a lot worse if we weren't holding them accountable," Harridge said.
Israel's bombing attacks and ground offensive in Gaza have killed almost 40,000 Palestinians since 7 October, according to the local health ministry.
Almost while 495,000 are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Israel's campaign was a response to Hamas' 7 October attack, when the group killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages, according to the Israeli government.
