A radical motion at Labor’s national conference designed to pressure Anthony Albanese to recall Australian representatives from Tel Aviv has reopened a bitter divide within the party on Palestine on a day Chinese diplomats stormed out over a separate stoush sparked by the presence of Taiwanese officials at the annual gabfest.
Former minister Ed Husic, now a backbencher after his demotion by the Prime Minister last year, led the push to insert a resolution into the party’s platform which would also acknowledge Palestinians have a “plausible claim” of needing protection from genocide and push Labor to establish full diplomatic ties with a state of Palestine.
“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 states, referencing the findings of a United Nations inquiry.
A rival motion put forward by the right-wing Shop and Distributors Alliance would seek to revive a demand — scrapped before the conference for the sake of party harmony — for Hamas to disarm.
Labor’s parliamentary leadership desperately wanted to avoid a fight on the floor over Israel. It’s understood party elders are working to hash out a compromise position between the two sides to avert an ugly public spectacle.
Dummy spit
Australia’s largest trading partner will be absent from proceedings when the ALP turns its attentions to defence and trade policy on Saturday.
Chinese diplomats stormed out of the conference in Adelaide in protest of Labor’s refusal to bend to their demands to eject Taiwanese officials from the event.
The Nightly this week revealed that a Taiwanese delegation had been invited to observe the conference, a courtesy also extended to nations including the US and China, but one that was guaranteed to raise the hackles of an increasingly tetchy Chinese embassy.
Under the One China policy observed by Australia, Taiwan does not enjoy formal diplomatic relations with Canberra, but its interests are represented here by an unofficial embassy known as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO).
During the opening morning of the conference on Thursday, three Chinese diplomats confronted the ALP’s national secretary Paul Erickson demanding the Taiwanese official be removed from the event.
According to witnesses the veteran ALP operative calmly explained to the Chinese delegation that the conference was taking part in a democratic country, and the Taiwanese representative was a “general observer” and did not have a diplomatic pass.
Mr Erickson, who is credited as one of the key masterminds behind Labor’s election wins in 2022 and 2025 then made it clear that the member of Taiwan’s TECO would be allowed to remain at the conference.
Sources claim that organisers have this year reduced the number of embassy representatives allowed to attend the ALP gathering because of the large presence of Chinese diplomats who attended the 2023 event.
Stage management
Away from the drama on the sidelines, proceedings on the floor were largely sedate.
Subdued sessions in the afternoon saw debate on policy in areas including climate, health, social cohesion, gambling reform and workplace relations.
The party reaffirmed its ambition to move towards universal dental care, though Health Minister Mark Butler noted that would come at an enormous cost to the Budget.
There was minor squabbling during a resolution to enshrine the right to a conscience vote into the party’s constitution for any issues relating to voluntary assisted dying.
The resolution was carried by Attorney General Michelle Rowland and seconded by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher but attracted the most disagreement of the conference.
The resolution had stated that “conference resolves that the matter of voluntary assisted dying can be freely debated at any state or federal forum of the Australian Labor Party, but any decision reached is not binding on any member of the Party”.
The only other matter where a conscience vote is guaranteed is abortion.
The party also removed barriers to accessing VAD through telehealth “while maintaining appropriate clinical safeguards”.
Another area expected to cause tension will be a push for greater funding for local governments, with the Australian Services Union promising a fight on the floor on Saturday.
Inner West Council Labor mayor Darcy Byrne, who is widely expected to run in the PM’s Sydney seat if he left local government, told reporters on Thursday that the current levels were “untenable”.
Mr Byrne said with ballooning budgets on roads, GPs and other services, it was a “sleeper issue” which would explode if there wasn’t a “modest increase in investment” to help them stay afloat.
$12,000 dinner
Earlier in the day, Trade Minister Don Farrell repeatedly dodged questions over political donations, insisting it’s a matter for the party’s administration.
Business leaders and lobbyists are being charged $12,000 per ticket to attend the Federal Labor Business Exchange on the sidelines of this week’s conference.
During a press conference on Friday morning, Senator Farrell repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether that expense was appropriate, or if it constituted a “cash for access” arrangement.
“Look fundraising is a matter for the for the party administration,” he told reporters.
“All of the issues relating to donations are matters that are held and dealt with by the party administration.”
Adios comrade
It was also revealed on Friday that Labor’s newly elected national president Kate Ellis will initially be based in Spain as she and her family relocate to Europe for six months.
The former Adelaide MP has been overseeing this week’s ALP national conference in her hometown and has confirmed she will not be working in her regular job as the chief executive of Raising Literacy Australia.
Ms Ellis, a minister in the Rudd-Gillard years, has confirmed she will complete her new Labor party duties remotely from Spain but return to Australia when required.
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