Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been putting it succinctly, declaring it’s a question of when, not if, Australia recognises Palestine as a state.
It’s a line Foreign Minister Penny Wong used more than a year ago. This week Wong was sounding impatient. “The reason for urgency behind recognition is this. There is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise if the world does not act,” she said.
For the government, recognition is as much about domestic politics as foreign policy. Australia has no influence on what’s happening in the Middle East (other than donating aid). But the Australian public is increasingly horrified by the images of the humanitarian crisis.
