He has worked desperately to secure a one-on-one meeting with Trump to shore up the deal to buy nuclear submarines under the AUKUS pact.
Not satisfied with the $368 billion price tag of the subs, Albanese announced another $12 billion to build a new submarine repair base near Perth that could be used by US boats.
Trump isn’t likely to ditch AUKUS. But Albanese’s desperation to ingratiate himself meant he had not a word to say against Trump’s arming of Israel’s genocide, or the racism, anti-migrant lies and climate denial that were on display in Trump’s rant at the UN.
While at the UN General Assembly, Albanese formally recognised a separate Palestinian state, hypocritically declaring that, “We must end the cycle of violence” while he continues to allow the export of parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets and other weapons components that it is using in Gaza.
Israel and the US’s latest ceasefire proposal is not a serious offer but simply a demand for Hamas to surrender, give up its weapons and allow Trump and Tony Blair, a war criminal and one of the butchers of Iraq, to take control of Gaza.
Albanese rushed to “welcome” the plan and demand that Hamas agree.
But Palestinians shouldn’t have to submit to the US and Israel’s demands—they have the right to resist Israel’s occupation.
Global opposition to the genocide and support for sanctions is growing.
The Spanish government has now imposed a total arms embargo, banning the export of weapons and other goods used by the Israeli military.
It has also cancelled several arms purchases from Israeli companies including Elbit and Rafael.
Following protests against an Israeli team’s inclusion in a cycling tournament, the country’s Prime Minister has also backed a ban on Israel’s participation in sporting events.
But Albanese won’t do the same.
Racist rallies
The scale of the March for Australia anti-immigration rallies on 31 August was shocking. The Nazi National Socialist Network and the far right hope to use them to grow.
Racism and the scapegoating of migrants from Albanese, mainstream politicians and the media is feeding this. Polling shows 53 per cent of people think immigration is too high.
Last December Labor cut international student numbers, engaging in a racist competition with then Liberal leader Peter Dutton blaming them for the housing crisis.
When the Liberals blocked one of Labor’s measures Immigration Minister Tony Burke declared, “If anybody out there is thinking that because of the rate of immigration they are having trouble getting into a home, just know the leader of the Opposition has decided to make that worse.”
Albanese has repeatedly said that “we are getting the numbers down” and cutting immigration. He has passed new deportation laws to allow the dumping of refugees and non-citizens on Nauru.
So it was no surprise that he refused to condemn the racist March for Australia rallies, saying there were “good people” on them who were simply concerned about immigration. But there is nothing good about accepting racist myths or marching alongside Nazis.
Liberal Shadow Minister and leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie has gone further, denouncing immigration as “unsustainable” and labelling it “the real reason you can’t afford a home”. He even claimed, “We’re starting to feel like strangers in our own home,” appealing to racist nostalgia for a white Australia.
Migrants are not to blame for the skyrocketing cost of housing and rents, or the cost of groceries and electricity. But Albanese wants to use racist scapegoating to cover for his government’s responsibility for them.
Living standards have gone backwards since 2022, with real household disposable income down 6.9 per cent.
Albanese refuses to take on the rich property investors who are driving up housing prices by scrapping the negative gearing and capital gains tax policies that have created the crisis.
The far right aims to feed off the discontent with Labor’s failure on the cost of living.
Everyone needs to join the counter-demonstrations against the next March for Australia protests on 19 October. If anti-racists can mobilise larger numbers than the racist rallies, it will help demoralise them and stop the racists taking to the streets.
We also need to counter the racism coming from Albanese and the political mainstream that is fuelling them.
Everyone who has marched for Palestine should also join the anti-racist protests. March for Australia have opposed the Palestine solidarity protests and are a threat to all migrant communities here.
Alongside this we have to keep up the fight for sanctions on Israel—with the next step the rallies on 12 October to mark two years of genocide.
Drawing in the unions, as well as left-wing Labor members and Greens, will be key to fighting racism and mobilising the power to win action for Palestine.
General strikes for Palestine in Italy and Greece show the kind of action that’s needed. We should draw inspiration from them to help build the struggle here.
