Anthony Albanese has insisted the Australian Labor Party is “transparent” after internal powerbrokers shot down former minister Ed Husic’s Gaza debate at Labor’s National Conference.
The Chifley MP, who lost his ministry following Labor’s election victory last year, said he would not be deterred from speaking out after party officials prevented his proposed motion from reaching the conference floor.
“They can put me in a freezer, I don’t give a sh*t,” Mr Husic told reporters on Saturday.
His remarks came after a planned debate on Israel’s actions in Gaza collapsed when the seconder for his motion withdrew following backroom negotiations, preventing delegates from voting on the proposal.
Speaking to ABC Insiders on Sunday, Mr Albanese addressed rumours he shut down the debate to avoid a shift in the party’s position on whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
“There have been contributions on the floor of the conference, including from Josh Burns and Basem Abdo, two people who are considered in their approach,” he said.
“We want to see a two-state solution. We want to see Israelis and Palestinians living side by side. We want to see that issue advance.”
On whether Mr Husic was “helping or hurting” Labor on the issue, Mr Albanese said it was “fine by me” that the Chifley MP was contributing to the discussion.
“Like every other delegate, he has a right to come along and pursue whatever they say is or see as their objective. And that’s fine by me,” he said.
“I have no problem with any delegates of the conference having their say and making their contributions.”
Mr Albanese was further pressed on contributions at the conference being managed outside of the public eye.
“This is the most transparent political conference in Australia by far,” the Prime Minister said.
“It compares with the closed-door meetings of the Liberals or the Nationals. The Greens had a challenge to the leadership without anyone knowing for many months.
“We’re a transparent party, (the National Conference was) broadcast live.”
Mr Husic argued Labor had become too reluctant to allow disagreement within its own ranks and warned the party was damaging itself by treating internal debate as a threat.
“I think there’s been a broader issue … that the experiences of the Rudd-Gillard years were so divisive that people are almost traumatised into a position that anything that looks like debate (or) a divide means that the government might topple over,” he said.
“You’ve got to be able to find a way to disagree respectfully and try and work with people and have that discussion.”
The proposed motion stated Israeli authorities and security forces had “deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank”.
Although the debate never proceeded, Mr Husic said the humanitarian crisis remained one of the defining moral questions facing Australia.