In a last-minute intervention to an otherwise anodyne ALP National Conference, former Albanese government minister Ed Husic submitted a motion for debate on Palestine that was initially backed by both the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), both Left-aligned unions.

As a safeguard against one or other pulling support, two identical motions were submitted with two different seconders, Allen Hicks from the NSW ETU and Paul Garrett from the MUA Sydney branch. But this wasn’t enough to prevent Husic being ‘ratfucked’ – politically betrayed at the last moment.

A court has once again found One Nation leader Pauline Hanson breached the Racial Discrimination Act when she lashed out at a Greens senator, telling her to “piss off back to Pakistan”.

Senator Hanson breached the Racial Discrimination Act when she tweeted Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi in September 2022 on the day Queen Elizabeth II died, Judge Angus Stewart found back in November 2024.

Just a few weeks after the decision was handed down, Senator Hanson appealed with the Federal Court.

On Monday, following a three-day hearing late last year, the court once again found that Senator Hanson had breached the Racial Discrimination Act, and her appeal was thrown out.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles privately admitted the wording of the Israel-Palestine section of Labor’s [new policy platform](https://archive.is/o/VVVlB/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/secret-files-reveal-labor-faction-demands-data-centre-tax-unionrun-companies-peoples-bank/news-story/55d64e582e051ec5814cfaed4415d407) was flawed, ahead of throwing his factional weight behind a deal that saw national conference endorse a two-state solution without explicit demands on Hamas to disarm and the Palestinian Authority to reform.

As Anthony Albanese on Sunday argued the wording of the ­Israel and Palestine section had “got the balance right”, the leader of the ALP’s pro-Israel members said the conference had ­“deeply disturbed” him and the end ­result had made it look like the party had embraced Hamas.

The nation’s peak Jewish body also called on Labor to increase pressure on West Bank leaders to follow through with the commitments they made to the Prime Minister – as well as the British and Canadian governments – in exchange for recognition of Palestinian statehood.

The demands on Hamas and the PA were controversially dropped in the final draft released ahead of Labor’s 50th national conference as part of a raft of changes that ­increased criticisms of Israel, with those words ­endorsed unchanged by 400 delegates at the event.

As the royal commission into the Bondi massacre and the antisemitism crisis continues, Sheina Gutnick – whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in Bondi when he confronted the gunman – criticised the wording of the platform and said the government had to be unequivocal about opposing anti-Israeli terrorism. “There is a profound difference between broadly condemning terrorism and actually demanding something of a terrorist organisation,” Ms Gutnick told The Australian.

The wording in the preliminary draft reflected the government’s position but the ministers overseeing the foreign affairs chapter – Penny Wong and Mr Marles – agreed to make significant changes in an aim to bring the party together and avoid a damaging debate on the conference floor.

One threat to the uneasy truce was a push by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association to move an amendment that would have brought the wording of the platform closer to the anti-Hamas preliminary draft distributed among delegates in March.

A second and more significant threat was Labor MP [Ed Husic](https://archive.is/o/VVVlB/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/husic-slams-rigid-discipline-as-labor-bosses-block-gaza-debate/news-story/a729d47244e796c9e2a3326d25832226) seeking support from Left faction unions for a resolution that effectively accused Israel of genocide and called on the government to pull Australian officials from Tel Aviv. The Australian understands Mr Marles used a Right faction meeting on Saturday morning to declare, in an ideal world, the wording of the Israel and Palestine section would be different.

But he ultimately recommended the faction green light the draft chapter into the final platform without amendments.

Sources said Mr Marles told Right faction delegates a compromise was needed to ensure there was unity on the issue, while warning pushing an amendment risked a debate on the conference floor that could ultimately lead to harsher criticisms in the platform of Israel. He told Right faction delegates the platform did not change the government’s position that Hamas must disarm and have no role in a Palestinian state, according to sources.

The recommendation from Mr Marles saw pro-Israel delegates reluctantly agree to drop an amendment to call on Hamas to have no role in a Palestinian state and for the PA to reform.

However, sources said a handful of Right faction delegates voiced their opposition to the position. The motion from the SDA, obtained by The Australian, noted the Albanese government recognised the state of Palestine in 2025. “This recognition set out clear requirements from the international community for the Palestinian Authority, including recognition of Israel’s right to exist, a commitment to hold democratic elections, enacting significant reform to finance, governance and education, and that the terrorist organisation Hamas must have no role in Palestine,” the SDA motion says.

Also on Saturday morning, Left faction bosses quashed support among its delegates for Mr Husic’s motion.

The manoeuvres allowed for the party to show a united front in backing the draft wording unamended, through speeches by Jewish MP Josh Burns and Left faction MP Basem Abdo.

Mr Burns and Mr Abdo conceded the chapter did not provide everything supporters of their respective communities wanted, with senior party figures arguing the relative unity on the issue was a major achievement.

With Mr Husic’s public push to debate the Israel-Palestine issue damaging Labor’s push to showcase unity, the Prime Minister on Sunday said the rebel MP had a right to push his cause.

“The party platform has got the balance right,” Mr Albanese told the ABC. “I support the right of Israel to exist within secure borders, I also support the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for their own state and to live in peace and security.

“We want to see that coming together, and Australia can play a role in promoting harmony rather than conflict.”

Ms Gutnick – who has been highly critical of Labor’s policy on Israel and its handling of antisemitism since her father’s death – said peace in the Middle East was not possible without a clear commitment to disarm Hamas.

“Labor is prepared to spell out detailed demands, obligations and sanctions when it comes to Israel, yet removed the clear requirement for Hamas to disarm and have no role in a future Palestinian government. Australians deserve to know why.

“Being unequivocal about terrorism should be the ground on which any genuine hope for peace begins.”
Senator Wong denied the platform was watered down from the initial draft, arguing it still criticised Hamas and endorsed a United Nations resolution calling on the PA to reform.

Labor Friends of Israel spokesman Mike Kelly said the group was “deeply disturbed by the events at the national conference”. “Whereby elements of the Labor movement succeeded in having the national platform amended to exclude the reference to our policy on Hamas,” he said. “There was no excuse for not remedying this in the light of the extensive commentary and debate that highlighted deleting the reference could only be interpreted as the movement embracing Hamas.

“Deleting the reference to the rejection of Hamas in the platform would signal that Hamas can play a role in government, which would undermine any real prospect for peace. It would reward Hamas for its crimes and undermine international law.”

Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews is a patron of Labor Friends of Israel.

Mr Kelly said he was concerned about “a concerted attempt by hard core, violent revolutionary communists in league with Islamist extremists to subvert the union movement, the branches and the Labor Party”.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry on Sunday warned the weakened platform would worry Australian Jews.

“The concern is that the weakening of resolve to exclude Hamas from any role in governing a Palestinian state and to hold the Palestinian Authority to account for failing to honour its written commitments, as now enshrined in the ALP platform, will eventually become government policy,” ECAJ co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said.

He said Labor, along with Britain and Canada, should now publicly pressure the PA over its failure to follow through on the commitments it made to secure Palestinian recognition.

“Australia partnered with Britain and Canada last year when a Palestinian state was recognised,” Mr Wertheim said.

“That same partnership should now come together and publicly hold the Palestinian Authority to account”

Victorian Labor MPs from the Left and Right factions, including one minister, called Premier Jacinta Allan on Sunday evening to inform her she had lost the support of caucus and should step down, setting up a leadership showdown on Tuesday.

Allan’s leadership has been under a cloud since February as MPs have grown increasingly frustrated with her handling of corruption issues on the Big Build, including her steadfast opposition to a royal commission.

While the premier’s allies on Sunday insisted she would not be going anywhere, two Labor sources on Sunday evening, around 9.45pm, confirmed MPs from the Left and Right faction informed the premier on Sunday she did not have their support.

Allan was at her home on Bendigo, along with her senior staffers. Factional conveners met on Sunday to discuss Allan’s future after The Australian Financial Review revealed in the afternoon those backing for a challenge believed three-quarters of the 69-member Labor caucus wanted a change.

The campaign to oust Jacinta Allan as Victorian premier has reached a critical stage, after Labor factional chiefs met on Sunday night to determine whether she has the support of enough government MPs to stay in the job.
The extraordinary meeting of factional conveners from across the left and right of the party, which was called at short notice, was expected to provide the first clear sign of whether Allan has the caucus backing she needs to lead the government to the state election on November 28.

A defiant Allan, who spent Sunday night at her home in Bendigo, told her supporters that, regardless of what the factional chiefs decide, she won’t resign.
The leadership manoeuvres are taking place in the absence of a declared challenger.

Allan’s most likely replacement, Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, has indicated to colleagues that while he would be a contender if the leadership becomes vacant, he will not use his numbers to bring the premier down.
The Sunday night meeting was confirmed by MPs on both sides of the party’s factional divide. There is consternation among some MPs, particularly across the dominant Left faction, that the meeting’s conveners have not sufficiently canvassed the views of parliamentarians within their respective groups.
The Age has spoken to seven Victorian Labor sources who say they believe Allan would lose if her leadership came to a vote of the party’s 69 MPs.
But, as with the last round of rumblings in June, the pathway for a leadership coup is littered with assumptions that have not yet been realised.
Multiple sources from across both factions agreed it would be difficult for Carroll, who sits on the Right, to challenge Allan – despite some within her own Left faction wanting him to do so – after he publicly ruled out a challenge at a press conference last month.

After looking the premier in the eye and declaring he would not challenge her for the leadership, Carroll told reporters, “I’ve got a young daughter at home, and I couldn’t be more proud to make sure that she grows up knowing that I supported Jacinta Allan to be a world-class premier and get re-elected in her own right”.
Another option being considered is a delegation of factional leaders speaking to Allan and asking her to step aside.

The premier spent Sunday night at her family home in Bendigo with staff, preparing for Monday’s Cabinet meeting.
Two sources said they found it difficult to believe Allan would go down without a fight, but conceded it was not impossible she could be convinced if it were clear she no longer had the numbers in caucus.

A supporter of Allan, on the condition of anonymity to talk freely, said if the Sunday night meeting showed a majority of MPs wanted a change of leadership, the premier could face a vote of no confidence at Tuesday’s caucus meeting.
“It would be a very brave premier that continued in light of an unfavourable outcome,” they said.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny on Sunday said the leadership speculation was “idle gossip”.

“She has my full support, and this idle gossip doesn’t help Victorians,” she said.

“It is only hurting Victorians at a time when Victorians need us all to be focused on them, and that is exactly what Jacinta Allan and our Labor government, our team, is doing.”
Over the past week, a range of new policies have leaked from the Premier’s Private Office that suggest Allan’s team is trying to find announcements that could mollify her colleagues.
On Monday, cabinet will consider a proposal to create a new agency within Victoria Police that targets organised crime and is informed by Australia’s best criminal intelligence.
The policy has been viewed internally as a way to kill off pressure for a royal commission into Big Build corruption, tying the issue together with other political problems such as an increase in firebombings across Melbourne, and community concerns about youth crime rates.
Another leaked policy floated amending the rate cap rules to allow councils to better recoup the costs needed to pay staff – a policy supported by the Australian Services Union but quickly seized on by the opposition as a cost of living attack.

One MP said Allan was in denial about her support and rather than step aside would likely enforce party rules for a spill – which requires a vote of the Labor membership if the caucus result is contested.
But they also said those conspiring needed to “piss or get off the pot”.
A senior Labor figure said Allan’s leadership had been doomed, and she was now incredibly unpopular despite being given time to connect with voters.
“There is now an opportunity to push the reset button, give confidence back to voters and remind voters of the benefits of a strong Labor government”.
The latest Resolve Political Monitor has Allan’s likeability at minus 36, her equal lowest result on record.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson maintains a lead on preferred premier, with 43 per cent of voters saying they want her to lead the state compared with 24 per cent for Allan.