Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and I reiterate this point: there have been moments of antisemitism and racism in some of the responses that we've seen in the political debate taking place here in Australia. I have been critical of the stance that the Greens political party have made, but I make this point as well: many people in the Greens political party, like in other parties—the Liberal Party and the National Party, as well as the Labor Party and the Independents—are people of goodwill who join political parties because they think that is the vehicle for them to make the change that they want. It's not something that I agree with. I would always be a member of a political party that's a party of government rather than a party of protest. But I wouldn't want to suggest that every member in my electorate or in other places has engaged in that. In the lead-up to the local government elections in my local area, in the Inner West Council, I was extraordinarily critical of the actions of Greens councillors and their supporters for being part of a campaign, including a counterproductive campaign outside my electorate office as well as in council meetings, where a council meeting had to be abandoned because of the disruption that had occurred.

The Inner West Council has a lot of things to do. It looks after rubbish. It looks after roads. It looks after housing. It looks after the local community. It is not a player in the conflict in the Middle East. One of the things I've been critical of is the attempt to argue that Australia can have a role—not a major role, compared with a country like the United States—in what occurs in the Middle East. But we can make a decision that we won't bring conflict here. We do have a role in that. I'd say that people, if they hold office in federal or state parliaments or in local government—whatever political party they represent—need to bear in mind the words of Mike Burgess, the ASIO director-general, about the responsibility that we have to take the temperature down in this country rather than to lift it up. Whichever political party is engaged in that, I would urge everyone in this chamber and, indeed, everyone who holds a role in public life to bear that warning and caution of Director-General Burgess in mind.

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