Australia’s Divide: The Left’s Moral Collapse

On his first visit to Israel in 1971 as ACTU president, Bob Hawke described his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir as a “life-changing event.” He called Israel an inspiration and a small, lone democracy in the Middle East. Hawke famously said, “If the bell tolls for Israel, it won’t just toll for Israel, it will toll for all mankind.”

In November 1973, following the Yom Kippur War, Hawke visited Israel for a second time, this time as both Australian Labor Party (ALP) President and ACTU President. He often clashed with then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam over Whitlam’s even-handed attitude towards Israel. Hawke denounced Whitlam’s position and the socialist left’s anti-Israel attacks as morally repugnant and inconsistent with ALP policy.

In 1983, Hawke told his biographer Blanche d’Alpuget, “I’m an Israeli. If I were to have my life again, I would want to be born a Jew.”

Today, the bells are tolling again for Israel, and for Australia. More than 40 cities across Australia hosted Palestinian solidarity rallies last Sunday. Once a country proud of its multicultural society, Australia is now being ruled by the mob and led by a socialist left-wing Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. In Hawke’s words, the ALP has turned into a morally repugnant party. Albanese’s views are shared by Penny Wong, Tony Burke, and every other minister in his cabinet.

The scenes of the Sydney Opera House lit on October 9, 2023,barely 48 hours after the October 7 atrocities began, through to the rally across the Sydney Harbour Bridge earlier this month, and every day in between, have been repeated across the country. The same slogans were chanted: “Free, free Palestine, from the river to the sea. Palestine will be free,” “Sanction Israel now,” and “Death to the IOF [Israel Occupying Forces].” These slogans build on past hateful chants like “gas the Jews” and “F the Jews,” so you get the drift.

Hamas and Hezbollah are recognized terrorist organizations; however, waving their flags is now normalized on Australian streets. We seem to see more terrorist flags than Australian flags. Australian flags and the Australian Dream are attacked at these rallies as well, with numerous flags burned by these mobs of thugs.

This is not the Australia Hawke knew or wanted. It’s not the Australia many of us grew up in.

The Albanese government, with figures like Penny Wong and Tony Burke, appears to have swallowed this same divisive narrative wholesale.

The socialist left claims to champion justice and equality but has instead fueled division. Its relentless focus on Australia’s colonial past and systemic racism ignores the country’s progress and the values that unite us. By promoting identity politics and critical race theory, it fractures Australians into tribal groups defined by grievance rather than shared citizenship.

This ideological framework often applies moral judgment inconsistently. For example, Israel, Australia’s democratic ally, is frequently singled out and condemned by the socialist left for supposed systemic injustices, while the same moral outrage is conspicuously absent when it comes to extremist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, whose acts include terrorism and brutal violence.

Their activism has turned militant and hostile, targeting Australian institutions and symbols in a way that alienates the very people whose support they need. Instead of fostering a “fair go,” this movement pushes resentment, hostility, and polarization. ‘Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. These words I read on one of the barracks at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 2019. Such poignant words in an environment where our so called leaders are repeating the propaganda of 1930s Germany. The rhetoric on our streets is no different.

One of the weekend’s bitter ironies was the presence of former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame. Tame rose to prominence as a survivor and advocate for victims of sexual assault. Yet she not only marched but spoke at the rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park. The contradiction is stark: supporting a cause linked to a terrorist organization that has perpetrated and documented mass rapes and sexual assaults on women.

Grace Tame built her platform by fighting to name and confront sexual abuse. Critics find it deeply contradictory that she supports a movement where sexual violence has been weaponized, and yet that violence is not publicly acknowledged or condemned within those circles.

The moral collapse is evident in the fact that no one at these rallies chanted for the hostages to be freed. The next generation of haters is being brainwashed, with children joining in the chants—much like the hate being taught in UNRWA-run schools in Gaza. Demonstrators are calling October 7 a hoax, yet much of the evidence comes from GoPro footage they themselves recorded, as well as calls to family members of victims so they could witness the brutal murders of their loved ones. The propaganda knows no bounds, yet our so-called leaders sit quietly and watch the fruits of their own advocacy.

Australia was once a nation proud of its multicultural harmony and inclusive patriotism. Today, the socialist left has prioritized global ideological battles over national loyalty, normalizing extremist voices and turning its back on social cohesion and traditional Australian values.

Bob Hawke understood that standing with Israel meant standing for democracy, justice, and shared values. We would do well to heed his words now, before the bells toll for Australia’s unity one final time.