Albo rebukes Greens MP over Hamas comment

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called out Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi for failing to say if terror organisation Hamas should be dismantled, during a confusing TV interview on ABC’s Insiders.

The Greens deputy leader on Sunday repeatedly refused to say whether Hamas should be disbanded, instead saying while the Greens would not change its listing as a terrorist organisation, it wan’t up to her say “who should be gone or not”.

Mr Albanese said it should have been a “pretty easy question, frankly” to answer.

“If a senator is asked to support a terrorist organisation … it is pretty clear what she should have answered – which is Hamas has no role,” he said.

“Terrorism, and what we saw on October 7 doesn’t lead to anything other than trauma, devastation, tragedy, (and) loss of life.”

Making the comment while appointing lawyer and philanthropist Jillian Segal as Australia’s first Special anti-Semitism Envoy, he said there were several issues with Senator Faruqi’s response.

He labelled as “appalling” a recent motion by Greens in the Senate to solely recognise Palestinian statehood, ignoring Israel.

“She couldn’t answer whether Hamas should play an ongoing role. Whether it should be dismantled,” he said.

“She had the statement that Palestinian should self-determine what happens in the region, it was unclear whether that meant one state … and what the implications of that were for Israel’s right to exist.”

The turmoil in the Middle East since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 last year, leading to a brutal war in Gaza as also affected the government with Muslim senator quitting Labor over its stand on Palestine.

Mr Albanese reiterated the rule that Labor caucus members must vote together on legislation and motions would remain.

Senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor to vote on the Greens’ motion last month and said she would do it again, defying the Prime Minister and caucus rules.

She called for caucus rules for collective voting in parliament to be changed to allow a conscience vote.

Mr Albanese said that would not happen.

“We take action together, going forward, and I must say 103 members of our caucus are on exactly the same page on these issues,” he said.

“That is how you talk things through with proper debate, and that’s how governments function.”

He said Labor supported a two-state solution and there was “nothing surprising” on the “principled” position.

“What we want is an end to the conflict, we want the hostages released, we want to make sure that Hamas are removed from influence in the region, and we want the international community to play a role in the objective of a two-state solution,” he said.