More than 150 people attended the first candidates’ forum for the contested seat of Wills at the Brunswick Baptist Church pm March 6.
The forum, which was sponsored by the Safer World for All foreign aid campaign, included three candidates: Peter Khalil MP (Labor); Samantha Ratnam, former leader of the Victorian Greens ; and Sue Bolton, four-term Merri-bek Councillor (Socialist Alliance). The Liberal candidate failed to show.
Khalil said when Labor was elected “after a decade of Liberal cuts, we started to rebuild the overseas development assistance (ODA) budget, increasing it by $10.4 million”.
Despite this, as the forum organisers pointed out, federal aid spending is stagnating at historic lows. At 0.19% of Gross National Income (GNI), it remains near the bottom of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and well below Labor’s very modest platform goal of 0.50% percent of GNI.
Khalil also noted that “ODA is not just about emergency relief or assistance, it’s also about Australia’s national interests”.
Ratnam and Bolton countered the idea that foreign aid be justified by Australia’s economic and security interests. They said should be seen as reparations for ill-gotten gains and for rich countries’ role in causing climate change.
“Our acknowledgment of First Peoples’ sovereignty here and across the world is especially important,” Ratnam said.
“In too many places there are communities that were violently disrupted, their resources stolen or exploited, and their people subjugated as a result of colonisation. No wonder international aid is often needed in places impacted by colonisation.
“The Greens believe that Australia, a wealthy country, has an obligation to contribute its fair share of aid and pay reparations for its role in the climate crisis and the ongoing damage caused by global warming.”
Bolton said Socialist Alliance supports increasing development and humanitarian aid and outlined key principles on which foreign aid should be based.
“There needs to be an end to the weaponising of humanitarian aid,” Bolton said. “A clear example of this is Australia’s bullying of Pacific nations; if they want aid from Australia, they have to end relations with, and aid from, other countries.
“Pacific nations should have the right to accept aid from whoever they want.”
Bolton was critical that humanitarian aid is “often tied to lucrative trade deals for the donor country, or military inputs from the donor country or an obligation to have the contractors who deliver the aid projects from the donor country.
“We need to end this strings-attached aid,” she said. “The wealth of Australia was not only created as a result of the genocide of Aboriginal people. Australian companies were involved in stealing the wealth of the Pacific as well. We have an obligation to repatriate some of this wealth.”
The first question from the floor, from Green Left, was directed at Khalil.
“In the past you wrote an article entitled Confessions of an Israel advocate in which you wrote: ‘When IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] officers plan operations they work within the constraints of international law and humanitarian norms — they work to minimise civilian casualties.’
“Given all that has occurred in the past 18 months, specifically the killing by the IDF of over 46,000 people, including some 18,000 children, do you stand by these statements, and do you remain an advocate for Israel?”
Khalil responded that he does stand by international law, arguing, “I’ve been consistent in the last couple of years in the call for Israel to adhere to international law. The statement you read out is from a different time. It was 20 plus years ago when there were hopes for peace.
“We [Labor] have been very consistent in being critical of the IDF and Israel for the actions they have taken with respect to the high casualties of civilians during this conflict,” Khalid said.
Ratnam said the community is wondering why Labor “haven’t taken any action when there are so many accusations of Israel breaching international law: using starvation to control the war; we’ve had hospitals bombed; we’ve had communities annihilated. Where are the sanctions on Israel?”
This concern dominated the remaining discussion.
Bolton added that it is “alarming that there has been no world-wide outcry — at least from politicians — when Israel decided to turn off food, water and medical supplies. “That’s a textbook case of genocide! There should be sanctions on Israel, just as there are on Russia.”
Ratnam and Bolton, who received 46% in the Merri-bek Council elections last year, attracted the loudest applause.
Eyes will be on Wills on election night, in what is likely to be a closely contested seat.