Australia/Israel Review

How Australia’s extremists fared in the election

As the dust settles after the latest Federal election, with the Australian Labor Party celebrating and the Liberal/National Coalition parties licking their wounds, it’s interesting to see where the fringe far-left and far-right parties ended up. One thing these parties all have in common is that they are somewhere between strongly and viciously anti-Israel.

The Australian Greens

The Greens Party was far less successful in this election than it had hoped.

Greens MPs and senators “distinguished” themselves throughout the last term of Parliament by their appalling performance on Israel, especially since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 atrocities ignited the war in Gaza. On the first sitting day of Parliament following those attacks, the Greens voted against a bi-partisan motion expressing solidarity with Israel, largely because it supported Israel’s right to self-defence.

Throughout the war, they have regularly moved and attempted to move motions and made speeches condemning Israel, accusing it of genocide and demanding Australia act against it.

The party’s policies included its “Campaign to end the occupation of Palestine,” including: 

An end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories…

The State of Israel to end its ongoing genocide in Gaza…

The Australian Government to formally intervene on behalf of South Africa and their case of genocide against… Israel at the ICJ.

The Australian Government to sanction all members of… Israel’s war cabinet…

Hamas to release all hostages… unconditionally.

The planners and perpetrators of the October 7 attack are to be brought to justice in accordance with international law and independent UN and ICC-backed investigations [should take place] of the war crimes being committed by… Israel in Gaza right now.

Notably, there are no demands on the Palestinian Authority, or calls for a two-state peace. As Bren Carlill and Galit Jones demonstrated in the May Review, some Greens candidates were even more extreme than the party’s official positions and MPs’ rhetoric.

Following its growth from one House of Representatives seat to four in the last election, the party had high hopes of further expanding its presence there. However, it ended up holding on to only one seat. 

Party leader Adam Bandt had held the seat of Melbourne since 2010, but suffered a primary vote swing -5.28%, falling to 39.45%. His two-candidate preferred (TCP) vote fell by -8.59%, giving Labor the seat.

In Stephen Bates’ seat of Brisbane, the swing in his primary vote was -1.34%, down to 25.9%. He finished third. 

High profile MP Max Chandler-Mather also lost his Brisbane suburban seat of Griffith. His primary vote dropped to 31.65% with a -2.94% swing, while his TCP result was 39.41% against Labor, after he won with 60.46% against the Coalition in 2022. 

The Greens did hold Brisbane outer metropolitan Ryan. Incumbent Elizabeth Watson-Brown suffered a -1.23% swing in her primary vote, to 28.98%, but achieved a TCP vote of 53.27%.

The Greens had also hoped to win three more seats, but finished third in Melbourne inner southern suburban Macnamara, where its primary vote dropped to 25.47%, a swing of -4.19%, and in northern NSW coastal seat Richmond.

Finally, in Melbourne inner northern suburban Wills, which former Greens state leader Samantha Ratnam left the Victorian Parliament to contest, the Greens achieved a 2.53% primary vote increase to 35.58%, and a TCP swing of 7.57%, but still fell short, with a TCP vote of 48.54%, 3,203 votes behind Labor.

However, the Greens’ real power has always been in the Senate, and here, that power may be increasing. Despite a -0.95% swing in its overall primary vote, the party held on to all six of its contested Senate seats, maintaining its previous total of 11. At the time of writing, it looked most likely that the increase in Labor Senate seats means the Government will now be able to get any legislation passed if the Greens support it. In the previous Parliament, some independents were also needed if the Coalition was opposed. This will increase the Greens’ bargaining power.

Australia’s Voice

Having quit the ALP after being indefinitely suspended for voting against the party to support a Greens motion to recognise a Palestinian state, and saying she would do so again, WA Senator Fatima Payman set up her own party – Australia’s Voice. While she wasn’t personally up for election, being halfway through her six-year term, the party ran candidates in the Senate elections in all states except Tasmania.

Its website proclaims, “Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including over 18,000 children. If our leaders can’t stand up to this, how can we expect them to stand up for us?” The party received less than 1% of the vote in each state – 0.73% in NSW, 0.97% in Victoria, 0.74% in Queensland, 0.68% in WA and 0.69% in SA.

The Muslim Vote

The Muslim Vote was not a party, but a group set up to guide voters, with the slogan “Justice for Palestine. The Australian Muslim Community is uniting.”

Its website scored candidates in selected seats, but also endorsed three independent candidates, providing their how-to-vote cards.

Ahmed Ouf ran in Blaxland in Sydney’s western suburbs, against Education Minister Jason Clare. His policies on Israel include “One state built on justice and equality” and a full “right of return” for Palestinian refugees. Both mean the end of Israel. He also stood for “Unconditional support of the Palestinian peoples’ right to seek liberation” – in other words, support for terrorism – and for an end to Israeli “apartheid” and support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Ouf received 16,319 primary votes, 18.78%, finishing third. At the time of writing, it was unclear whether preferences would lift him into second over the Liberal candidate, but either way, Clare’s primary vote of 46.16% was easily high enough to ensure he retains the seat.

Dr Ziad Basyouny ran against Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in inner south-western Sydney seat Watson. His policies also include “Advocating for a Unified Democratic State in Historic Palestine” which would be “from the river to the sea” and a full right of return, meaning the end of Israel. He accuses Israel of apartheid, racism, genocide, ethnic-cleansing and war crimes, and calls for sanctions against it. 

He received 12,270 primary votes, or 14.74%, coming third, but preferences pushed him up to second. In the runoff against Burke, he received 33.18% of the TCP vote.

Samim Moslih ran in Melbourne outer northern suburban Calwell. His website proclaims, “I’ll fight for indigenous rights and for those suffering overseas, including the people of Palestine, who deserve peace, dignity, and freedom.” The Australian reported on Dec. 12, 2024, that he said, “I do believe… we need to have a free Palestine from the river to the sea with a representative democracy.” Asked if that means ending the state of Israel, he said, “Genocide cannot be rewarded.” 

Moslih received 6,164 primary votes, or 6.86%, finishing behind numerous candidates including two independents whose websites did not mention Palestine.

The Citizens Party 

In its heyday, the Citizens Party of Australia, formerly known as the Citizens Electoral Council, the Australian followers of the late American demagogue and fraudster Lyndon LaRouche, ran in nearly all seats, always doing very poorly. These days, it needs to content itself with doing very poorly in far fewer seats. Its policies for this election include, “Independently oppose the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, including through an arms embargo on Israel, without waiting for US permission.” It also wants Australia to withdraw from the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement with the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand, and work with Russia and China instead. The group is also known for promulgating various antisemitic and other bizarre conspiracy theories.

It ran in 18 seats, finishing last in all but two. The highest primary vote it received was 2.92%, but it received less than 1% in ten seats and less than 2% in all but three. In the Senate, it ran in all states, recording primary votes of between 0.13% and 0.32% and finishing last in all but WA. 

Socialist Alliance

Socialist Alliance policies include “Solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle; isolate apartheid Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions; end all military and sporting ties with Israel.”

The party ran in six seats, doing well in Wills with 8,812 votes, or 8.02%. However, in the other five, it received between 0.95% and 2.91%, finishing last or second last. In the Senate, it ran in NSW, getting 0.25%, in Queensland, receiving 0.65%, and in WA, where it tallied 0.24%.

Victorian Socialists

The Victorian Socialists want to “End Australia’s support for the apartheid state of Israel,” saying they will “demand a free Palestine and stand in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli aggression.” They also want us to close the “Israeli embassy and expel its diplomats.”

They achieved 1.6%, 8.37%, 6.24% and 6.45% in the four lower house seats they contested, and 1.52% in the Victorian Senate election.

Australia First

Australia First leader Jim Saleam – previously the Deputy Leader of the National Socialist Party of Australia before founding National Action – ran as an independent in outer Sydney seat Lindsay, demanding an end to immigration and multiculturalism. He finished last with 1.13% of the vote.

(Note: figures may have changed slightly since the time of writing)