Malcolm Turnbull has urged Anthony Albanese to remain focused on domestic affairs and leave the “showboating” to Scott Morrison after the former prime minister’s trip to Israel.
Morrison travelled to Israel with the former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in what the pair described as a “solidarity trip”. Neither holds influence over their respective nation’s governments.
Speaking to ABC radio, Turnbull described the two former leaders as “two guys with plenty of time” and dismissed calls from former Liberal MP for Wentworth and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma for Albanese to follow Morrison’s path.
“I’m sure [the visit from Morrison and Johnson] is appreciated but you’ve got to remember they’re two guys that are out of office. They’ve got plenty of time. I’m not saying they’re unemployed, but they’ve got plenty of time.
“… Albanese has a full-time job as prime minister of Australia. My old chief of staff Drew Clarke used to say the scarcest resource in the commonwealth of Australia is the prime minister’s time and so … every prime minister has got to allocate that time in the manner that best delivers for the people of Australia.
“And so every trip, whether it’s international or domestic, every excursion, you know, it’s got to be weighed up against other alternatives. And there’s … a lot of big issues to focus on here at home.”
Turnbull said a visit from Albanese would serve no purpose.
“What’s Australia going to do, other than provide sympathy and solidarity? Albanese has got to keep his eye on the ball, which is being prime minister of Australia and advancing the interests of the Australian people.
“… Leave the showboating for ScoMo and Boris.”
Last month, opposition leader Peter Dutton demanded Albanese visit Israel on his return from the US, to reaffirm Australia’s support for Israel. In less than a month, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 10,000, with at least 4,000 children killed by Israeli airstrikes, according to local sources.
Australia has firmed up its language in addressing the conflict, with foreign minister Penny Wong urging Israel to “listen to calls for restraint” in its response to Hamas. But while the government has pushed for a “humanitarian pause” it has not joined growing calls for a ceasefire. The US and the UK have also declined calls to urge for a ceasefire in the region as the Palestinian civilian death toll continues to mount.
In response, the Greens political party, led by Senator Mehreen Faruqi, staged a walk out of the senate sitting on Monday.
“The Coalition is morally bankrupt when it come to Palestine, and Labor has shown itself to be heartless, gutless cowards. You are watching [the] massacre of thousands of Palestinians by Israel and you are not condemning Israel,” Faruqi said during a Senate question time session.
“You refuse to call for an immediate ceasefire. We are not going to sit here and watch you pat yourselves on the back for doing nothing. Weasel words are not going to stop war crimes. Today we bring the people’s protest into parliament. Free, free Palestine.”
In response, the government services minister, Bill Shorten, accused the Greens of “political grandstanding”.
“I don’t know how that helps. No one thinks that helps,” he told ABC TV.
“… We want to make sure that we’re supporting humanitarian pause, we want to see relief get through to innocent Palestinian civilians … I just think these guys are opportunists and I don’t think it’s worth me spending much more oxygen on them.”
The shadow foreign minister, Simon Birmingham, was in rare agreement with Shorten in condemning the Greens for what he said was a “stunt”.
“The Greens have no credibility in this space, and their stunts, their pathetic actions, just seek to weaken Australia and undermine our position,” he said.
“Of course, though, the humanitarian concerns are real, the loss of any innocent lives, particularly of any innocent children, is a tragedy. Whether that is a Palestinian child, an Israeli child or any other child, our heart breaks and grieves, for it is a terrible function, sadly, of war.
“And the challenge here is trying to see Hamas removed as quickly and effectively as possible for any position of power and influence and ability to create further terrorist strikes and actions. We want to see that happen as quickly as possible, so that hopefully we can see a stabilisation and ultimately longer-term peace discussions between Israel and Palestinians to establish a viable, peaceful outcome for the future.”
The Greens have vowed to continue giving voice to the hundreds of thousands of Australians who have protested Israel’s actions against Palestinian citizens in the past month.
