Forum: How the labour movement can stand with Palestine

When: THURSDAY 14 AUGUST 2025, 6PM

Where: Victorian Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets, Melbourne VIC.

Speakers:

• Wil Stracke, Assistant Secretary, Victorian Trades Hall Council
• Tony Piccolo, Assistant State Secretary, AMWU
• Cassie Farley, Assistant State Secretary, ASU
• Johan Scheffer, Labor Friends of Palestine and former state Labor MP
• Mai Saif, Free Palestine Melbourne, board member Palestine Community Association of Victoria, ASU
• Justine Makdessi, AEU sub-branch representative, Teachers and School Staff for Palestine

The labour movement in Australia has a proud history of opposing apartheid and fighting racism.

During the campaign against apartheid in South Africa, the ACTU advocated for boycotts of South African goods and enforced trade and shipping boycotts.

As Israel’s genocide continues, the Palestinian people desperately need our solidarity. The urgency for the Albanese government to sanction the apartheid state of Israel has never been greater.

But the only sanctions the government has placed have been individual sanctions on Itamar ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for “violent and unlawful” action in the West Bank, turning a blind eye to the horrors in Gaza.

Join Free Palestine Melbourne to discuss how the labour movement can stand with Palestine and sanction Israel now.

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