With domestic politics seeming to pander to those in our country who wave Hezbollah flags, our foreign policy is an international embarrassment. As Israel bears the brunt of three Iranian-backed terrorist groups with modern weapons of war, Australia’s response has been found wanting.

It’s time Australia did some of the heavy lifting against international terrorism.

Meanwhile, Australian domestic politics is dysfunctional. Not since the late 1940s have we been in a situation where the left of Australian politics has been such a threat to our own security.

In the formative stages of the Cold War, the Communist Party of Australia was complicit in leaking nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. So much so that the US had Australia’s security rating at the same level as the Soviets.

The Chifley government established ASIO to address the domestic security threat. This was necessary to placate the Americans who regarded Australia as a leaking sieve for intelligence.

Later, Sir Robert Menzies tried to ban the Communist Party of Australia but the move failed at a referendum held in 1951.

The divide lasted several years, however, culminating in the Great Labor Split of 1955. Consequently. Labor remained in the political wilderness until 1972. The Whitlam Labor government that followed was mired by controversy and was ousted by 1975.

The Hawke government was the only Labor government since that held power for more than a decade. Nevertheless, Hawke’s legacy was undone rather quickly by Paul Keating in 1991 after publicly exposing the Kirribilli Agreement. Losing an unlosable election, the politically incompetent opposition leader John Hewson allowed Keating to be elected in 1993.

While Labor continued to shoot itself in the foot through internal leadership battles like the infamous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd fiasco, Prime Minister Albanese has somehow managed to stave off any challengers. (Not that there is any depth of talent in this Labor government.)

But instead of internal leadership challenges bringing down Labor, Mr Albanese’s lack of leadership is bringing the Albanese government undone all by itself.

It is interesting that Bob Hawke was able to stay in power for more than eight years. One major difference between the leadership of Hawke and Albanese was Hawke’s support for Israel. I won’t bore readers with the ‘bell tolls for Israel’ speech, but it is clear that Hawke was all in for Israel.

Albo, however, is not asleep at the wheel, nor is it the case that he can’t hear the bell.

Mr Albanese is actively ignoring Israel and antisemitism while issuing a call to Muslim voters from the minaret.

To recount the record, Australia did little to help protect shipping from Houthi attacks, it did nothing to stop the disgraceful Opera House scenes following the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, and in response to antisemitism on university campuses, it appointed an Islamophobia envoy.

The icing on the cake was Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s speech to the largely irrelevant UN General Assembly. Many delegations had walked out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech a few days before.

Wong’s speech, dubbed a ‘national statement’, began with:

‘Steeled by the horror of the most catastrophic conflict in history, humanity forged our United Nations.’

The UN was forged during wartime. It was designed to rebuild Europe and also to enable peacekeeping and peacemaking forces, so it didn’t suffer the same fate as the hopeless League of Nations.

One might wonder that Wong thinks peace can be ‘made’ by talk. But actions speak louder than words and appeasement has never worked in history. Ever.

In my opinion, Wong was grandstanding to Australian voters who do not support Israel. Wong was using her role as the major representative of the Australian nation-state in an international forum not for the good of Australia, but for the good of the Labor Party.

Not only is this a new low for Labor, but it is a new low for Australia.

It is time Australia started doing some of the heavy lifting against terrorism. This must be a two-pronged approach. First, Australia must stand up to terrorist sympathisers at home especially those who carry Hezbollah flags in the street. We also need to ask questions of ABC reporters who allegedly don’t support the Australian government’s definition of a terrorist organisation. And there needs to be further scrutiny when it comes to members of the Greens who are doing everything possible to undermine Australia’s support for Israel.

Second, Australia must do some of the heavy lifting overseas. At worst, this should be just because we have no ability to defend ourselves at present, and we will need all the allies we can get. At best, we need to support liberal democracies in their fight against terrorism and we also need to support our ally, the United States.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has stated that the world is ‘safer’ without Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He has also urged diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon. At the same time, the US has ‘boosted’ its defence posture and three US destroyers helped defend Israel against a missile attack from Iran on the night of October 1. The US may not be directly involved in the conflict, but in addition to talk, they are in the Mediterranean and they are physically defending Israel against terrorist attacks.

There is some hope for Australia, however. NSW Police have applied to the Supreme Court to ban events planned to ‘celebrate’ the horrific events of October 7 last year that led to the antisemitism on the steps of the Opera House. Perhaps a case of too little too late but it is better than what we have seen to date.

As for the Albanese government, its abuse of foreign policy for its own electoral advantage will hopefully bring it undone. To recover its reputation, Australia must start doing some of the heavy lifting against terrorism. But do not hold your breath because it won’t happen under this Labor government.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is a political scientist and political commentator. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILTA), and a Member of the Royal Society of NSW. He is National Vice President of the Telecommunications Association, Chairman of the ACT and Southern NSW Chapter of CILTA, and a member of the Australian Nuclear Association. Michael is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and was appointed to the College of Experts at the Australian Research Council in 2022. All opinions in this article are the author’s own and are not intended to reflect the views of any other person or organisation.