News live: Australia declines to join statement condemning Israel for Unrwa HQ demolition; Liberal party can win elections without Nationals, Ruston says | Australia news
Australia declines to join statement criticising Israel for Unrwa demolition
The Albanese government has declined to sign up to an international statement expressing concern about Israel demolishing an aid agency’s headquarters.
The foreign ministers of 11 nations, including the UK, Canada and France, strongly condemned Israel for demolishing the East Jerusalem headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) in a joint statement issued on 28 January.
It called on Israel “to fully abide by its obligations to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in accordance with international law”, saying current aid levels were inadequate.
Canberra was invited to join the most recent declaration, but declined the offer without an explanation, one diplomatic source told AAP.
Australia has consistently joined other like-minded nations, especially the UK, Canada and France, in issuing public rebukes to Israeli actions during its war in Gaza.
The Israeli government began demolition work on the Unrwa Headquarters on 20 January.
Israel has consistently called for the disbanding of Unrwa before it passed laws preventing it from operating on its territory after it accused workers of participating in the Hamas terrorist attack against it on 7 October 2023.
– AAP
Key events
The Liberal and National split would not be resolved by replacing Sussan Ley as Liberal leader, Matt Canavan says.
I don’t think that’s the issue. I’ve worked with Susan very strongly in the past. I think she’s done a good job over the past year.
The Nationals senator said the issue lay elsewhere.
There’s just one problem here, Andrew. And that is that of course is that if we’re going to be in a coalition with the Liberal party, we have to have put forward who we’d like to serve in the shadow ministry. And as a result of the vote last week and the fallout from that, Sussan Ley said no.
Clarifying later, Canavan said:
I don’t think she should have sacked those people.
Canavan confident Littleproud can survive leadership challenge
Canavan said he understood some people’s concern over the split and their desire to see a reunified Coalition, but added that the break allowed the Nationals to take an informed position on the government’s antisemitism legislation “in less than a week”.
The Senator said he was “still scratching my head about why we had to split” over a “difference of opinion on this particular issue”.
We will continue to work together I’m sure with other people in the parliament. I think it would be best to do so in a coalition.
He said he expected the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, to survive an expected leadership challenge on Monday.
I’m pretty sure he’ll have the confidence of the room tomorrow.
Matt Canavan rules out bid for Nationals leadership
Nationals senator Matt Canavan says he is not harbouring any plans to run against the party leader, David Littleproud, with a leadership spill expected to take place on Monday, saying “I don’t care about all this stuff”.
Asked why he wouldn’t run for leader during an appearance on Sky on Sunday morning, Canavan said:
Maybe I’m a different kind of species, Andrew?”
Later, he added:
I go to Canberra to take action. I’ve got five beautiful kids; I’ve got a beautiful wife. I’d prefer to be staying home this week, but I’m going down to try and improve things for the Australian people. And I really don’t care what position in the zoo I am.
Canavan said his primary means of helping the Australian people was to get the government to abandon its net zero emissions by 2050 goals and to advance legislation that would “make sure that we use all types of energy” and end the “obsession with one type of energy”.
On the broader party split, Canavan said the Nationals were doing fine on their own in their latest break from the Coalition, and he was proud that his party stood up for “our principles and our values” by dumping the Coalition a second time.
O’Brien says ‘strong economy’ Liberals’ focus
Returning to the future of the Coalition and Liberal party, O’Brien is asked what direction the party should go in.
I believe that the Liberal party is … we are united, we are values led, we are future focused, and we are economically driven. And there’s nothing more important than economy. Not because the economy is the end game; it is the means by which we can serve the Australian people better …
A strong economy is how you can help those mums and dads who are struggling to pay the mortgage. You can help those mums and dads who are struggling to pay the school fees.
That is where the Liberal party has had its traditional strength … [We] need to continue to be that values-led – the belief in the individual, the family, the entrepreneur, these are the things that … we need to focus on.
And future focused – we need to focus in particular on millennials, on gen Z, on alphas. They’re the demographic struggling the most.
O’Brien accuses PM of playing politics with Coalition split
Asked more about the future of the Coalition and the relationship between Ley and Littleproud, O’Brien makes a valiant effort to redirect the conversation to inflation and cost of living – an attack line Liberal figures have been relying on Sunday morning and clearly the subject they would prefer to be talking about.
There is an ongoing issue about how the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will divide staff allocations between the two parties in the event of a permanent split, with the possibility that the Liberal party be given the bulk, or all, of the staffing resources.
Well, it doesn’t surprise me … It’s all about politics for him. Let’s not forget that this prime minister cut the resources, cut the staffing of the opposition at the beginning of this term. This is the sort of internal game playing of Anthony Albanese.
Asked whether he was saying it would be playing politics for the prime minister to allocate all staff to the Liberal party and not to the Nationals, O’Brien says the prime minister will act in “whatever he thinks is in his best political interest”.
What I’m saying is there’s one thing we can be sure of – Anthony Albanese will politics like he always does.
O’Brien rules out running for Liberal leadership
Ted O’Brien rules himself out from leading the Liberal party in the event of a challenge to Sussan Ley’s leadership.
No. I’m the shadow treasurer, and that’s my focus. We have Australians right now feeling poorer by the day, an economy getting weaker. That’s my absolute focus.
O’Brien won’t be drawn on a reunification of the Coalition, saying he does not want to “pre-empt anything”.
I was disappointed when David Littleproud took the decision to split from the coalition. I do believe it’s in the national interest we work together. That’s always been the case. You can’t just come back together willy-nilly and hope for the best.
There’s some serious conversations to be had. Sussan reached out to David. David wanted to postpone conversations for this coming week; that’s fair enough … We’ll wait until the National party meeting is over tomorrow and then of course discussions can begin.
‘I don’t know, period’: O’Brien denies knowledge of discussions in rumoured Liberal leadership meeting
O’Brien says he does not know what was discussed in a private meeting held by members of the Liberal Party, including Angus Taylor, outside normal party processes.
The Deputy Liberal leader says the usual party process is for anyone who does not support the current leader to step aside from the shadow cabinet. Taylor has not done so.
On the meeting itself, O’Brien says he did not attend and insists he does not know what was discussed.
David, I don’t want to add to speculation by engaging in hypotheticals about what colleagues may or may not have spoken about in a meeting. I myself did not attend. There’s been a lot said, I was listening to Phil’s comments and others, I will others make the ever make a colleagues or the may have. That’s a matter for them to answer if you ask them individually.
As Speers points out, the subject of this meeting is a poorly kept secret: the continued leadership of Sussan Ley and who might challenge her.
Pushed to comment on the meeting, O’Brien insists he does not know what was discussed.
I do not know the ins and outs of that conversation.
And again:
I will allow you to explain what they were speaking about. I wasn’t there. I’m not going to pretend I know. And I’m to come on your show and try to make things up for you. I wasn’t in the meeting. I don’t know, period.
O’Brien says he has ‘faith’ in Ley’s leadership
Deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien says he “hopes” the coalition will return and that he has “faith” in its party leader, Sussan Ley, ahead of what is expected to be another chaotic week in parliament.
I haven’t found anybody in the Liberal party who has disagreed with the judgments, decisions taken by Sussan Ley, and [I] have faith in her navigating through this next [period] to see if there’s a way we can return.
The show of support comes ahead of a Nationals party room meeting on media where David Littleproud is expected to be challenged for the leadership of the junior party.
On the division within the Liberal party, and speculation that Angus Taylor is preparing to challenge Ley for leadership, O’Brien says he has spoken to “all my colleagues, but I never disclose individual conversations”.
What I can say is Angus has continued to make positive contributions, especially in the leadership team, over recent days and weeks.
As for whether or not the will be a challenge, I don’t believe we’re walking into a period where there will be.
But, I don’t know the future either. Of course, the convention is if one does not support the leader, they step aside. Angus hasn’t done that. So my running assumption is he continues to support Sussan Ley.
Liberal party can win elections without Nationals, Ruston says
The Liberal party is capable of winning a federal election without its junior coalition partner, senator Anne Ruston says.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, Ruston described herself as a “coalitionist” but said that “history” showed it was possible for the Liberal party to go it alone if it had to.
I think you’ve only got to look at history.
Asked whether she thought it was possible to “win just as the Liberal party”, Ruston said:
It’s happened before … and I think the one thing that we’ve learned in politics is that you never say never – things change very, very quickly.
Ruston said that “the most important thing” for the Liberals is to provide certainty to the Australian public by presenting a “credible opposition”.
The South Australian senator backed in Sussan Ley’s leadership, saying she has been doing “an amazing job” and that “being the leader in opposition is always going to be a really tough gig”.
I think Sussan has been doing an amazing job of being leader in the toughest time I can remember in parliament. I don’t think it’s particularly unusual that there are always great challenges at this time.
Ted O’Brien on Insiders this morning
Deputy Liberal leader MP Ted O’Brien will speak to ABC Insiders host David Speers on Sunday morning ahead of what is expected to be another chaotic week in parliament.
This follows early-morning appearances by Liberal senator Anne Ruston and Nationals senator Matt Canavan on Sky News, as well as the Labor health minister, Mark Butler.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
Good morning
And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian Australia live blog.
Australia has declined to join a statement co-signed by the foreign ministers of 11 nations condemning Israel for demolishing the Unrwa headquarters in East Jerusalem in January. Signatories to the statement included the UK, Canada and France, but Australia reportedly refused to join without explanation.
Liberal senator Anne Ruston has suggested the party can still win elections without a coalition agreement with the Nationals before a meeting to determine the fate of David Littleproud’s leadership on Monday. Ahead of what is expected to be a tumultuous week in parliament, Ruston said it was important the federal opposition resolve its internal issues to give the Australian public “certainty”.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs, and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started …
Australia declines to join statement criticising Israel for Unrwa demolition
The Albanese government has declined to sign up to an international statement expressing concern about Israel demolishing an aid agency’s headquarters.
The foreign ministers of 11 nations, including the UK, Canada and France, strongly condemned Israel for demolishing the East Jerusalem headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) in a joint statement issued on 28 January.
It called on Israel “to fully abide by its obligations to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in accordance with international law”, saying current aid levels were inadequate.
Canberra was invited to join the most recent declaration, but declined the offer without an explanation, one diplomatic source told AAP.
Australia has consistently joined other like-minded nations, especially the UK, Canada and France, in issuing public rebukes to Israeli actions during its war in Gaza.
The Israeli government began demolition work on the Unrwa Headquarters on 20 January.
Israel has consistently called for the disbanding of Unrwa before it passed laws preventing it from operating on its territory after it accused workers of participating in the Hamas terrorist attack against it on 7 October 2023.
– AAP
