Labor’s de-democratisation of Australian politics

September 5, 2025

Gregory Clark writes well on the Palestine issue. As a result of FOI applications, I now know that up till about six weeks ago, Albo had had about 65,000 pieces of correspondence on Palestine since the Israel-Palestine war broke out, and had answered none. Penny Wong had had about 52,500, and had answered about 17% of them.

It is clear that governments of both persuasions largely believe that foreign affairs is not a suitable policy area for democratic control resulting from widely encouraged public debate. It has taken more than 22 months of weekly marches just to get Labor to implement its own policy on recognition of Palestine, so far without any really concrete response to mass murder, forced population transfer, and the deliberate low-calorie policy of the Israeli Government, even after it has now reached more than 50 eyes for an eye since 2023.

Rex Paterson, the transparency warrior, has just highlighted Labor’s plan to tighten the screws on FOI. So, it is going to be even harder to find out what the inexplicable hold that the Israeli Government clearly has over Albanese and Wong. Unlike Belgium, where a court case from Hind Rajab Foundation has seemingly emboldened it.