NSW Labor MPs back Palestine as Minns rules out lighting Opera House for Gaza

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Twelve NSW Labor MPs have publicly declared their support for Palestine as Premier Chris Minns remains opposed to illuminating the Opera House in the colours of the Palestinian flag.

The MPs are signatories of a statement released on Thursday by the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group, co-chaired by NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong and Labor MP Julia Finn.

NSW Premier Chris Minns says he still holds concerns over a second pro-Palestine rally in Sydney planned for Saturday.Credit: Oscar Coleman

It follows federal Labor ministers Ed Husic and Anne Aly warning that Palestinian-Australians are feeling forgotten in the political reaction to the Israel-Hamas war.

The statement, signed by 20 MPs, says: “The terrible acts of terror committed by Hamas are deeply inhumane. We call for the immediate release of hostages and reiterate our condemnation of all violence against civilians.

“We call on the government of Australia to clearly call upon all actors, including the state of Israel, to comply with international humanitarian law. We stand with Palestine and the Palestinian-Australian community who are currently facing a catastrophic crisis.”

Other signatories include Greens MPs and the Liberal MP for Holsworthy Tina Ayyad.

The NSW government, like its federal counterpart, has given unwavering support to Israel since Hamas launched its assault on Israeli civilians on October 7.

However, the release of the statement highlights the internal division in Labor over Australia’s response to the war, including whether to illuminate the Opera House in the colours of the Israeli flag and political condemnation of pro-Palestinian protests.

On Thursday morning, Minns again ruled out lighting the sails of the Opera House in the colours of the Palestinian flag despite internal party concerns about the worsening violence in the Gaza Strip.

“In relation to lighting up those major cultural institutions, we’ve got to be careful about context, and we have to understand timing as well and circumstances relating to lighting up the Opera House in the Israeli flag was in the immediate aftermath of a vicious and brutal mass murder,” Minns said.

“And given those circumstances, I thought that was the right decision, and we don’t have plans, and we won’t be lighting it up further in relation to this conflict.”

Another pro-Palestine protest has been planned in Sydney on Saturday, and Minns did not rule out NSW Police attempting to block the authorisation of a march in the Supreme Court.

Despite admitting last Sunday’s protest was “largely peaceful” Minns said he was concerned about “changed circumstances on the ground in the Middle East”.

The issue of pro-Palestinian protests have been a vexed issue for the government after a small group turned out at the forecourt of the Opera House during its illumination for Israel and chanted antisemitic comments and lit flares.

An email sent to a senior public servant, and released under a parliamentary order, reveal police defended the decision to allow that protest to go ahead, explaining it gave officers a better chance to avoid “a coming together” between pro-Palestinian activists and members of the Jewish community which could have ended “in violence”.

Despite NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman insisting Police Minister Yasmin Catley should have intervened to instruct police to block the protest from moving from Town Hall to the Opera House, documents show senior officers believed an “intervention” would not have helped avoid the chaotic scenes which occurred at the rally.

The email, sent to head of the NSW Premier’s Department Simon Draper and other senior public service officials on the night of protest, stated that officers spoke to the rally organisers before the protest, and that they were “known to us and have been compliant in the past”.

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