The party’s right-wing social democrats quashed Ed Husic’s motion to recognise what many people already know is the reality, a genocide in Gaza. I suspect there was also the usual factional pressure brought to bear on unions such as the MUA to fall into line.
It’s the same political calculation Albanese has made for the past three years. Labor didn’t suffer electorally at the last election, so there is little incentive for the leadership to change course.
For the leadership, it is all about winning elections rather than doing what they believe is morally right. Labor seems determined to avoid a media backlash and criticism from the Zionist lobby, the Coalition, and other opponents if it takes a stronger stand in support of Palestine.
I hope Ed Husic doesn’t pay too high a political price for speaking out. But it is deeply disappointing that others were effectively prevented from even debating the issue.
I believe the majority of Labor members are more sympathetic to Palestine than the party leadership has been prepared to acknowledge.
What happened to the ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus? Her public voice on Palestine has been far less prominent than many union members expected.
More broadly, I think many union hierarchies have shifted to the right and have become increasingly comfortable with institutional politics. This is happening while unions face a prolonged decline in membership and workplace influence.
I have very little to do with the MUA these days, but I see its current position as part of a longer rightward shift that has been underway since at least the Patrick dispute in 1998. On political issues such as Palestine, much of the organising has come from grassroots activists and organisations like Justice for Palestine Magan-djin rather than from union leadership.
The days of leaders like Big Jim Healy Clarrie O’Shea and Ted Roach—who were prepared to go to jail in defence of union principles—seem a long way off. Today, I believe too many union leaders have become disconnected from the rank and file. Rather than being held accountable to the workers they represent, many appear more focused on preserving their positions within the existing political and industrial system.
They have retreated into economism, willing only to deal with wages and conditions. The only upside of this approach is that sometimes members come together in solidarity, go on strike and even have a win.
Ian Curr
26 July 2026