Each-way motion on Oct 7 falls flat

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Anthony Albanese should “stand condemned” after the Prime Minister moved a motion on the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.

In his motion yesterday, Mr Albanese condemned Hamas’ attacks last year, which represented the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust.

The PM told the House of Representatives the “past year must have felt like a cruel eternity” for Jewish Australians.

“October 7 will always be a day of pain,” Mr Albanese said.

“As we mourn and reflect, we also reaffirm a fundamental principle of our shared humanity that every innocent life matters, every Israeli, every Palestinian, every Lebanese, every single innocent life.”

But Mr Dutton accused Mr Albanese of “trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth”, saying he had written to the PM in an attempt to form a ­“bipartisan position” on a motion marking the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

“I proposed to the Prime Minister a motion which was balanced and objective, and I appreciated the engagement with the Prime Minister when I met with him this morning,” Mr Dutton said. “Regrettably, we’ve not been able to arrive at a position of bipartisanship in relation to this matter.”

Mr Dutton said there were elements of Mr Albanese’s motion he supported, but that it went “well beyond the intent of what should be a motion to mark the loss of life of 1200 people on the first anniversary”.

“None of us support the loss of civilian life,” Mr Dutton said.

“And everybody in this place, I’m sure, condemned … Hamas, when they put tunnels under schools and under hospitals, when they bury bombs and they store their ammunitions in residential buildings, knowing that they’re using people as human shields.

“But today is the day where this parliament was meant to mark what should be a solemn moment, a solemn moment where 1200 people lost their lives.”

The PM’s motion was explicit on the Albanese government’s position on the rapidly expanding conflict in the Middle East. It laid out the government’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran, while stressing the “need to break the cycle of violence”, and reiterated Australia’s longheld support for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The motion also said that “symbols of terror and discord are unwelcome in Australia and undermine our nation’s peace and security”, addressing recent pro-Palestine protests where flags of Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah appeared.