Labor has bolstered its foreign policy platform by condemning China’s human rights violations in the region and pledging to recognise the Palestinian state as a “priority” if the ALP forms government.
After a “robust debate” on foreign policy on the first day of the ALP national conference, party delegates also thrashed out an agreement over how it would deal with free trade agreements in opposition, killing off a push by the Electrical Trades Union to harden Labor’s stance.
Labor senator Kimberley Kitching on Tuesday spoke on a motion condemning China for its treatment of the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang, saying the international community could no “longer be idle in the face of this brutal oppression”.
“Condemning the abuse is not enough. So long as governments fail to take meaningful action to hold those to account, then these atrocities will continue,” Kitching told delegates.
“If we accept the truism that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept, then we cannot accept what is happening in Xinjiang today. We must speak up. We must act.
“These atrocities include modern slavery, crimes against humanity and what various jurisdictions around the world have determined constitute genocide.”
The party also agreed to resolutions that condemned China’s actions in Hong Kong and the South China Sea, with concerns raised about the country’s violation of the Hong Kong treaty.
The China amendments had been in negotiation with Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, in the weeks leading up to the conference, as the party sought to ensure Labor’s platform remained diplomatic.
Last year, Australia joined with nearly 40 countries to voice grave concerns about “gross human rights violations” in the Xinjiang region and call for independent observers to be granted unfettered access.
On Middle East policy, Labor recommitted to a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel, bringing the party’s national platform in line with their commitment before the last election.
“It reflects our belief that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to prosper in peace behind secure and recognised borders,” Wong said. “A true friend of Israel is a true friend of the rights of Palestinians to statehood.”
The amendment also committed a Labor government to recognise Palestine as a state and “expects that this issue will be an important priority for the next Labor government”.
On trade, an amendment by the Electrical Trades Union to stop Labor MPs supporting enabling legislation for free trade agreements was not voted on after delegates agreed to a different motion that had been negotiated by Labor’s trade spokeswoman, Madeleine King, and the unions.
Peter Ong of the ETU had urged a stronger stance against the agreements, which he said had continually “sold off Australian sovereignty”.
“Why would the ALP speak publicly against the content of free trade deals, only to then support them by voting for the enabling legislation?” he said.
Anthony Albanese used the first day of the conference to also announce a $15bn reconstruction fund aimed at reviving Australia’s manufacturing sector.
He told delegates that the party’s priorities during the Covid-19 downturn would guide the party in the wake of the pandemic, drawing on the post-war recovery mantra of John Curtin of “victory in war, victory in peace”, which the party used as its 1943 election motto.
“After triumph, something better,” Albanese said. “Labor values were the right ones for the crisis – and they’re the right ones for the recovery.
“The values that got us through the pandemic are the values that will guarantee our success when it’s over.”
Introducing Albanese, former opposition leader Bill Shorten said that winning government from opposition was hard, with the party still living with the pain of 2019, which was more than “just the sting of defeat”.
“But the hurt of 2019 also came from knowing how close we had been before, and how close it still was after,” Shorten said.
He said that the Coalition was now “effectively a minority government” after outspoken MP Craig Kelly went to the crossbench and reduced the Coalition’s numbers on the floor of the parliament to 75.
“One more scandal, one more bone-headed disgrace, one more backbench troll sent off to study how to impersonate a human being and Morrison will have lost control of the parliament altogether,” Shorten said.
“So, the starting point for all of us at this conference must be the knowledge and the belief that Labor can most assuredly win the next election. It can be done.”
The special party conference, which is where Labor’s policy platform is debated and decided by delegates from across the country, was deferred last year because of Covid-19.
