A group of disaffected Labor members from Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities in western Sydney are organising against NSW Premier Chris Minns and Labor MPs they feel have “ignored and dismissed” their concerns about the state government’s response to Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
A petition titled “Condemn Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza” is being circulated on WhatsApp, other social media channels and in local party branch meetings. It demands that Minns and his government “call for an immediate ceasefire” and “acknowledge the response from Israel has now moved from that of defending itself to collective punishment prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime”.
More than 5,500 Labor voters have signed the petition, which warns Minns that his lack of support for Palestine is risking undermining Labor support from Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities in Sydney’s west.
“I am a Labor supporter. I supported Labor at the last election because I believed that your Labor team would best represent me and my community’s interest in Parliament. We are profoundly disappointed in you,” the petition reads.
“From the very beginning of this conflict, you chose one side. You preferred one group of Australians over another. You lit up the Opera House with Israeli colours without expressing any concern for the lives of Palestinians, many of whom are relatives and friends of your community here in Sydney. You entertained the idea of banning pro-Palestine protests. You did not allow members of our community to grieve at the loss of innocent Palestinian lives — the same community you begged for political support at the last election.”
Minns has tried to prevent further pro-Palestinian marches in Sydney, complained about the cost of policing major protests and flagged his intent to strengthen hate speech laws.
“Your voter base in western Sydney is on edge,” the petition warns. “We demand that you publicly support the Australian Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities in the same fashion support has been shown for those with Israeli heritage.”
Adam* (aged in his 20s) is a Labor member and one of the campaign’s organisers. He says the petition has been sent to Minns, deputy premier Prue Car, NSW Labor head office and state Member for Rockdale Steve Kamper, none of whom have responded.
“I joined Labor when I was 15 because I was interested in social justice,” he says. “Labor’s stance on Palestine was a key factor in my joining the party, especially after the party committed to recognising Palestine as an independent state at its national conference.”
Adam says that Arab and Muslim Labor members “feel ignored and dismissed” by Minns’ lack of response, and are now planning to actively campaign to force Minns’ resignation. Organisers are also planning to look for potential independent challengers to Labor MPs in western Sydney seats ahead of the next state election.
“We have lost faith in his leadership and will not support NSW Labor at the next election if he remains leader. That’s unequivocal,” Adam says. “We’ll be encouraging Labor councillors in western Sydney to sign a letter of no confidence in Chris Minns as leader. The Greens are not necessarily aligned with our interests on every issue so talk of independents is growing, especially when we saw Dai Le’s success in Fowler.”
Ameena (also aged in her 20s) lives in East Hills and has been going to the rallies for Palestine in the Sydney CBD with friends and family every week. She says Arab and Muslim voters are “completely fed up” with Minns’ silence.
“Over the last month I’ve called my local MP, I’ve emailed. It’s just been complete radio silence,” she says. “He’s come to our iftars, come and gotten photos at our schools, and then criminalised us and not even called for a ceasefire. All the pathways we’ve tried to build up with politicians over the years have been shown up as completely performative.”
In response, Ameena says, the Arab and Muslim communities are organising in a way she’s never seen before.
“The whole Muslim community is mobilising about this. I’ve never seen our community do so much petitioning and emailing and everything else,” she says. “It’s not just the young people. It’s professionals, it’s elders — even my grandma came to a protest. She’s been here for 50 years, she’s never been to a protest in her life.”
Ameena has heard “a lot of people saying they’ll be voting independent or Greens”.
“Traditionally our community just doesn’t vote Greens. We’ve always voted Labor, but the Greens have been the only party that has said anything,” Ameena says. “Hopefully there’ll also be a rise in Muslim independents as well.”
Organisers of the campaign also plan to target federal Labor MPs who represent areas of Sydney with large Muslim and Arab communities. On Thursday Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman and Member for Calwell Maria Vamvakinou became the first federal Labor figures to publicly call for a ceasefire.
“We think the federal government’s language has changed more appropriately than at the state level,” Adam says. “However the silence from western Sydney Labor MPs like Jason Clare especially has been noted. We are planning a new campaign directed at his office.”
NSW Labor referred a request for comment to Minns’ office, which did not respond before deadline.
*Name has been changed.
Crikey encourages robust conversations on our website. However, we’re a small team, so sometimes we have to reluctantly turn comments off due to legal risk. Thanks for your understanding and in the meantime, have a read of our moderation guidelines.