“Social democratic parties have a problem selling opportunity and hope, while conservatives easily sell fear and trepidation.” I am paraphrasing two comments delivered at a recent Australian Labor International dinner hosted by Australian Labor’s Opposition Minister for Foreign Affairs, the remarkable Penny Wong, and current leader of the Israel Labor Party, and soon to be…
I wish to honour the memory of William Cooper both as a member of the Jewish community and a long-time labour movement historian and activist. The dispossession of Australia’s Aboriginal population was little remarked upon by the early labour movement, even if one of the co-founders of The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU), William Guthrie Spence,…
Last month I went on a mission to Australia to develop and deepen the ongoing dialogue between the Israeli Labor Party and its sister Social Democratic Party, the Australian Labor Party. I travelled for a week between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and during the trip I met Labor and other lawmakers, party officials and trade…
Australia’s support for Israel is deep and enduring. It is founded in our shared values as democratic nations and is a bond of true friendship. It is a friendship that goes back to the founding of modern Israel, when Labor’s Doc Evatt helped introduce UN resolution 181, and to when, under Labor Prime Minister Ben…
On behalf of the opposition, I rise to support this condolence motion, to express Labor’s deep sadness at the passing of Shimon Peres, and to join with the government in expressing, as Senator Brandis has, our sadness at his passing. Shimon Peres was a former President and Prime Minister of Israel and a former leader…
We would like to extend you an invitation to join the AILD Labor Innovation Mission to Israel And Palestine 4-8 December 2016. Israel is second only to Silicon Valley in the number of startups and successful listings of startup companies. Our Mission is designed to find answers to how this is so and bring these…
STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO THE AUSTRALIAN16 MARCH 2016 In a story published in The Australian today, John Lyons makes a tenuous suggestion that the Australia Israel Labor Dialogue is funded by Israeli arms manufacturer, Elbit. The AILD is not now, or has ever sought to be funded by Elbit or any other defence company, whether…
Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie says the Labor Party risks becoming politically irrelevant over its “Stalinist” approach to Israel, which he argues has become an obsession. Mr Beattie described a proposed ban on politicians travelling to Israel on trips funded by Jewish organisations as an “extreme view” that would not help achieve a two-state solution,…
WESTERN Australia Labor will consider a motion condemning the wave of stabbing attacks against Israeli civilians and Palestinian Authority incitement next week. And in a further sign that the extreme anti-Israel leanings of figures such as former foreign minister Bob Carr and Freemantle MP Melissa Parke are the exception rather than the norm, the inaugural…
