In two Melbourne electorates, just 15km apart, Labor finds itself under attack from both sides of a conflict nearly 14,000km away.
In the bayside seat of Macnamara, home to Victoria’s largest Jewish community, the party has been criticised for its response to antisemitism and a perceived failure to stand firmly with Israel amid the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.
Meanwhile in Wills, a progressive stronghold in the inner north with a similarly sizeable Muslim community, Labor has been challenged over what are perceived to be close ties to Israel and an unwillingness to speak up loudly enough about the suffering in Gaza caused by Israel’s response.
“People are critical from both the Jewish community and the Muslim community,” says Peter Khalil, the Labor MP for Wills and Australia’s first special envoy on social cohesion.
“There’s an old saying in politics: if you’re down the middle and you’re being criticised from either side, you must be doing something right.”
But the division could cost Labor dearly if it swings votes – as it did in some parts of the UK and the US.
‘Apartment wall’ to ‘bagel belt’
Josh Burns, the Labor MP for Macnamara, admits it is difficult to pigeonhole his seat, which the party has held since 1906, when it was known as Melbourne Ports.
He says there are three distinct parts of the electorate: the once working-class suburbs of Albert Park, Middle Park and Port Melbourne that are gentrifying in the west; the “apartment wall” in the centre, suburbs such as Elwood, St Kilda and Windsor; and the “bagel belt” in the east, including Balaclava, Caulfield and Ripponlea, home to the electorate’s Jewish community.
“It’s a young area, it’s vibrant, but it’s not cheap,” Burns says.
One in 10 of the population in Macnamara are Jewish, making it the second-largest Jewish electorate in the country, behind Wentworth in Sydney and followed by its neighbouring seat, Goldstein, both held by independents.
In the aftermath of 7 October 2023, power poles in the area bore images of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and yellow ribbons were tied around fences in a show of solidarity. But these public symbols have faded as the community grows concerned about a rise in antisemitic attacks.
Since late 2023 Victoria police have launched 341 investigations and made 99 arrests for prejudice-motivated crimes related to the Middle East conflict, ranging from vandalism to physical abuse and neo-Nazi demonstrations.
The most prominent was the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, within Macnamara, which was declared a terrorist attack. Both Labor and the Coalition have committed to funding its rebuild.
Burns, who is Jewish, is one of Labor’s most pro-Israel voices. He visited Israel after the Hamas attacks and criticised his government’s decision to vote at the United Nations for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of the Palestinians. In June his office was vandalised, with windows smashed, fires lit and the slogan “Zionism is fascism” scrawled in red paint.
But Burns has also faced criticism from some in the Jewish community who feel Labor should be doing more to support Israel and combat antisemitism, and over his relationship with the Victorian Animal Justice party MP Georgie Purcell, a vocal advocate for the Palestinian cause. (Purcell has received similar criticism about dating Burns.)
Burns says he isn’t interested in “silly gossip” about his relationship. He has “focused on getting outcomes”, including criminalising Nazi salutes and swastikas, passing hate speech laws and providing $57m to upgrade security at Jewish schools and synagogues.
The Liberal candidate for Macnamara, Benson Saulo, has accused Burns of being Labor’s “lone voice” on antisemitism and Israel.
“I feel for Josh but the community needs a representative who will take a strong stance,” he says.
Saulo’s leader, Peter Dutton, has said one of his first tasks if the Coalition wins government would be to call Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to promise Australia’s support.
Where Burns and Saulo are united is in their criticism of the Greens, though Saulo confirmed on Monday that he was “briefly” a member of the Greens in his youth.
Saulo has called the party “divisive” and accused members of holding antisemitic views, saying he will place the Greens last on his how-to-vote card.
Burns says there is “no trust between the Jewish community and the Greens” and he will “not be doing anything to assist them” but declined to reveal how he would direct preferences.
On Friday, as Labor took the satisfaction of Burns being drawn at the top of the Macnamara ballot paper, its campaign confirmed it would run an open ticket, meaning its how-to-vote cards would not direct voters on where to send their preferences.
Simonne Whine, who helped set up the Jewish community group J-United after the 7 October attacks, says this isn’t enough.
“I believe that most of the community sees that as insufficient and he needs to take a stance,” she says.
J-United made a foray into politics at a state byelection in nearby Prahran, running a “Put the Greens last” campaign with support from Advance Australia. The Greens lost the seat to the Liberals for the first time since 2014, though the party has denied that its position on the Middle East played a role.
There is such animus towards the Greens that organisers of a Jewish community forum last week would not allow the party’s candidate for Macnamara, Sonya Semmens, to speak at the event. Several people who attended wore T-shirts reading: “Can’t vote Greens, not this time.”
Semmens describes the rise in antisemitism as “deeply distressing” but says it should not be conflated with “peaceful protest against violence and war”.
“Antisemitism must be combated by calling it out where it exists, naming it and dealing with it – I’m hardline as hell on that,” she says.
Third place on primaries will be key
For many in Macnamara, issues such as the cost of living and an increase in crime and antisocial behaviour are of greater concern than the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“I’ve heard many people talk about brazen crimes happening in broad daylight,” Semmens says. “I think it’s a survival situation, where people have reached a point of desperation and are resorting to actions they usually wouldn’t.”
She says crime prevention policies are a part of the Greens’ election offering, alongside cost-of-living measures, which she cites as the “No 1 concern” raised by voters. Burns agrees while, for Saulo, it’s crime.
If elected, Saulo says, he would provide funding for CCTV for shopping strips. But he does not support a proposal floated by the local council to fine rough sleepers, describing it as “un-Australian.”
“Living in the US, I’ve seen what happens when there’s no safety net for people who hit rock bottom,” he says. “We’re very fortunate in Australia to have one.”
Saulo acknowledges that his comments – and background – may not fit the “typical mould” of a Liberal.
Born to an Aboriginal mother and a Papua New Guinean father, he says he is passionate about climate change and supported the Indigenous voice to parliament. He decided to join the Liberal party as he wanted to help shape the party from within.
Burns echoes a similar message for progressives in the Jewish community: “Now’s the time to re-engage and ensure the future of the Labor party reflects all perspectives.”
The ABC election analyst, Antony Green, says it will be an uphill battle for Saulo, with the Liberals needing at least 45% of first-preference votes to stay competitive (at the 2022 election they won 29%). The Greens, meanwhile, say they only need a few hundred votes to overtake Burns – in 2022 they were 2,000 behind.
“The election in Macnamara will be decided by who finishes third,” Green says. “If either the Greens or the Liberals finish third, I’d expect Labor will win. If Labor finishes third, I expect the Greens will pick it up.”
The conundrum for Jewish voters disillusioned with Burns is that if enough people switch their primary vote to Saulo so that Labor comes third, it could deliver the seat to the Greens.
This was something Burns stressed at last week’s forum when asked about preference arrangements. “Think about the people who make up this electorate, the young progressive people,” he said.
“We are a proud and large Jewish community, but we’re only 10% of the electorate of Macnamara, and preferences, regardless of what the Labor party says, are not going to the Liberal party from those young people. They’re Labor-Greens voters.”
Campaign against Khalil
Across the Yarra in Wills, a “straightforward Labor-Greens contest” is playing out, Green says.
The seat, which takes in Brunswick, Coburg, Glenroy, Fawkner and Pascoe Vale, has been Labor-held since its creation.
But the Greens have developed a stronghold south of Bell Street, and a redistribution has moved Brunswick East, East Carlton North and Fitzroy North into Wills from Melbourne – the safe seat of the Greens leader, Adam Bandt.
As a result, Labor’s margin has shrunk from 8.6% to 4.6%, according to Green’s estimate.
The Greens candidate is the party’s former Victorian leader Samantha Ratnam, who calls it the “biggest campaign in Victorian political history for the Greens”.
She says the party had knocked on 47,000 doors with the help of 300 volunteers by the end of March, receiving “strong support” from the 10.3% of voters in the electorate who are Muslim, as well as other migrant groups.
“There are lots of communities around the world who have experienced war, colonisation and ongoing oppression who really can empathise with what they’re seeing [in Gaza],” Ratnam says. “They don’t want the Palestinians to be left behind or ignored.”
Ratnam has secured endorsements from Muslim Votes Matter and Vote Palestine Wills, with Michael Shaik from the latter group distributing thousands of flyers urging voters to “vote Peter Khalil out”.
Shaik says: “People assumed Khalil was on our side because of his last name and then they are shocked when they read the flyer.” It describes Khalil as a “friend of Israel”.
But the Labor MP defends his approach of doing “quiet diplomatic work” to help resolve the conflict, rather than engaging in “politicising and chest beating on the far right and the far left”.
He says he has always expressed strong support for the right to protest – “so long it is peaceful and respectful” – and for Palestinian self-determination, based on his family’s experiences in Egypt during earlier conflicts.
He notes that fewer people have been raising the conflict, with cost of living and housing taking priority.
Ratnam agrees, saying “cost-of-living pressures are overwhelmingly the issue most people are telling us about”, followed by climate change, housing affordability and then Gaza.
