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Penny Wong is speaking on RN Breakfast now. Right off the bat she was asked by Patricia Karvelas if the Australian government will support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN at a vote later today.
Wong begins with a preamble about Australia’s support for a two-state solution, then says:
We will consider the final resolution that comes before the General Assembly. Obviously, countries are still negotiating texts.
I don’t want to speculate about our vote … I think an abstention generally means you can agree in part with the resolution but not with sufficient, not with all of it, or not with a sufficient extent of the resolution for you to vote for it, so it can send a message that whilst you don’t agree with it in full, you’re not going to stand in the way.
I understand that question … I understand questions from those who don’t want us to deal with it at this time. I think one of the things we are aware of, and thinking about, is the timing of the situation on the ground. We know Hamas is still holding hostages. We want to look at the wording of the resolution to make sure we are being responsible, that what we commit to we are obliged to and look to the UN Charter and the resolution would have to be consistent with the charter. And of course it was with our partners, but your listeners, what I would say to them is Australia does support a two-state solution.
You’ve spoken to me many times over the years, Patricia, and you know I always try and bring a more nuanced discussion about what is really happening rather than getting drawn into the end the hard edges of the debate. Unfortunately, in this country, we seem, we see too much of this discussion, which is looked at by those who basically say you’re either with us or against us. And everything is black and white and simple. Regrettably, that is not what is happening in the Middle East. And regrettably, that is not how we should be looking at this.
The board finds that both posts violated the Coordinating Harms and Promoting Crime rule that prohibits content “advocating, providing instructions for, or demonstrating explicit intent to illegally participate in a voting or census process.
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