EDITORIAL: Labor needs its right to balance bleeding hearts

There’s no doubting Penny Wong’s sincerity.

Australia’s Foreign Minister has deeply held, unshakable convictions about the conflict playing out in the Middle East. To her mind, there are good guys and bad guys.

Israel, a liberal democracy and Australia’s long-time ally, is one of the bad guys.

This earnestly held belief in the wrongness of Israel’s actions makes her job as Foreign Minister very, very difficult.

You had to feel a kernel of sympathy for her as she faced down hecklers at the University of Tasmania on Tuesday night. She was there to give a speech about international affairs and policymaking, in which she would also repeat her calls for a “clear timeline for the international declaration of Palestinian statehood” and a “diplomatic solution, de-escalation, and ceasefire in Lebanon”.

But those reflections were derailed, repeatedly by interruptions from pro-Palestinian activists in the auditorium. One attendee shouted that she “had blood on (her) hands”.

It would have pained her deeply to be out-left on an issue so close to her heart.

The next day, she took to Twitter to rehabilitate her pro-Palestine credentials, writing that Australia “condemns to killing of innocent civilians by Israel in recent operations in Gaza”.

“The humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is unacceptable. Israel must allow essential supplies to flow,” she said.

“We also support all efforts by our partner countries to ensure humanitarian assistance gets to those in need. Palestinian civilians cannot pay the price for defeating Hamas.”

“We repeat our call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, protection of civilians and increased humanitarian access.”

Clearly, this is an exceptionally difficult situation for Senator Wong. She has been moved by the stories of suffering out of Gaza and Lebanon, as have many other Australians. But on serious and complicated issues of foreign policy like this, our leaders must not be ruled solely by their hearts.

It’s why historically, the Labor Party has performed best when it has a strong contingent from the right.

Those harder heads are needed to balance out the softer underbelly of the left.

Labor’s bleeding hearts — Senator Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among them — are unfortunately unequipped to confront the tough issues of war and international conflict.

That became painfully clear when the Government dragged its feet before grudgingly affirming Israel’s right to defend itself by responding militarily to Iran’s ballistic missile assault earlier this month.

That was followed by the debacle that was the Government’s parliamentary condolence motion to mark the first anniversary of the October 7 atrocities. What should have been a powerful moment to acknowledge the brutal murders of 1200 Israelis and reaffirm Australia’s support for Israel was made close to meaningless through Labor’s handwringing and vacillation.

Issues such as these require more than emotions and soft hearts.

They need cool heads, and an understanding of the bigger picture.