Statement: On the media narrative linking the Greens’ electoral losses to their stance on Palestine

10 May 2025

In recent days, we’ve seen a wave of commentary linking the Greens’ electoral losses to their principled support for Palestinian human rights and pro-Palestine rallies. This narrative is not only inaccurate—it is irresponsible.

Blaming Palestine solidarity for the outcome of a complex election unfairly targets one of the few parties brave enough to speak clearly about the mass suffering in Gaza.

In Wills, where Free Palestine Melbourne and other grassroots activists campaigned, voters swung decisively towards Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam and Socialist Alliance’s Sue Bolton, both unapologetic in their solidarity with Palestine. This occurred despite Labor’s heavy-handed pork-barrelling and scare tactics designed to mislead voters about preferential voting.

The Greens’ position on Palestine reflects the views of a majority of Australians, who support a ceasefire. Thousands have rallied week after week, in every major city, demanding an end to the killing. The Greens didn’t manufacture this sentiment—they honoured it.

There is something deeply wrong with a political culture that treats silence as statesmanship and outrage at mass killing as bad optics. It should not be controversial to call for a ceasefire, to oppose military ties with Israel, or to stand with a besieged population.

It’s also important to challenge the claim by Foreign Minister Penny Wong that supporting Palestinian rights or joining protests is divisive. At our rallies you’ll find students, retirees, union members, teachers, health workers, Jews, Muslims, Christians—all united in opposing the slaughter of civilians and Australia’s complicity.

By mischaracterising civic engagement against mass murder and starvation as extreme and antisemitic, politicians and media pundits promote a culture of passivity precisely when courage and idealism are desperately needed.

Free Palestine Melbourne believes public pressure, protest, and principled leadership are essential for achieving a just foreign policy. We commend the Greens for taking a courageous stand when many others chose silence. We reject the scapegoating of this stance as a political liability. The real political failure lies with those who chose complicity—and now pretend it was wisdom.

If anything, the past few weeks have clearly shown us what we’re up against: not just a brutal war abroad, but the machinery at home working hard to hide it.

Free Palestine Melbourne will continue to organise, protest, and resist until Palestine is free—FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.

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