Australian news and politics live updates: Reactions from Donald Trump’s plan to ‘take over’ Gaza

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Key Events
Drugs found at scene of Eagles hero’s death
Some sad news out of WA, with local police revealing they had seized drugs and drug paraphernalia from the scene of former footy stay Adam Hunter’s death.
Hunter kicked the winning goal in the 2006 grand final against the Sydney Swans and was lauded as a defensive star who would be thrown into the forward line to mix things up when a change was needed.
Tragically, he was found dead at the age of 43 in Bunbury, south of Perth overnight.
Five biggest takeaways from Trump’s announcement
The Nightly’s Peta Rasdien has puleed together the five biggest takeaways from Trump’s bold plan today, in case you’re just joining us now.
From his suggestions Gazans should move to “a really nice place with lots of money” to the part where he declared Gaza would become “the Riviera of the Middle East” there was a lot to unpack.
Coalition MPs respond to Trump comments
The Nightly’s Ellen Ransley reports that Liberal senator Dave Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, said he was against “any state unilaterally going and acquiring the territory of another”.
He urged caution about taking Mr Trump’s words literally, pointing to the President’s comments around Greenland and the Panama canal.
“It seems to be the basis or the starting point for a subsequent negotiation, which is about securing US interests,” he told Sky News.
“My own view is that Palestinian people have a right to self-determination in their own land and it has always been envisaged since the time of the first UN partition plan in the 1940s that Gaza and the West Bank would form the basis of a future Palestinian state.”
Jewish Liberal MP Julian Leeser said the Opposition still ultimately backed a two-state solution, only after the hostages were returned and Palestinian authorities recognise Israel’s right to exist.
“Our policy is, we note that the president’s put this policy forward, but we, it’s not a policy we’ve put forward,” he told Sky News.
ANALYSIS: Albo must do better on Trump’s Gaza plan
The Nightly’s Nicola Smith has urged Anthony Albanese to rise to the occasion and respond to Donald Trump’s plan for the US to “take over” Gaza.
She writes:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked for direction on US President Donald Trump’s potentially history-shifting plan to take over the Gaza Strip and did not rise to the occasion.
“I’m not going to have a running commentary on statements by the President of the United States,” Mr Albanese said repeatedly when asked by the Canberra-based media.
“The Australian government supports on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution,” he answered multiple times. “My job is to give Australia’s position,” he stressed, refusing to deviate from set-piece responses.
But Mr Trump’s shock proposal for the US to occupy Gaza and for Palestinians to be permanently resettled effectively upends long-held hopes of reaching a two-state solution, and Australia’s Government does not have the luxury of sitting in isolation when it comes to such consequential global shifts.
Mr Trump’s plan, if it proceeds, would not only trigger major ramifications across the turbulent Middle East but its consequences would also play out on the streets of Australia’s cities as the country already struggles to contain a rise in violent acts of anti-Semitism.
Hamas, Gazans responds to Trump’s takeover plan
While the Australian Prime Minister might not have had much to say, plenty of other people in the Middle East and nearby countries have given their two cents on Mr Trump’s audacious plans.
The Washington Post is reporting a range of reactions from Hamas, Palestine, Egypt and Turkey - and none of them good:
The foreign ministers of Egypt and Turkey - a country that has been involved in brokering an end to the conflict - released a joint statement rejecting any proposal to displace or resettle Palestinians to “countries outside the Palestinian territories, either for short-term or long-term purposes.”
Many Gazans also rejected it.
“Our Palestinian people, and the people of Gaza in particular, are rooted here and will not go anywhere. If Trump wants to pave something, he can go pave the sea,” Mustafa Ibrahim, a Gaza-based political expert, wrote on Facebook.
So did Hamas, the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and retains control of significant parts of Gaza.
“Trump’s statements are racist, and a blatant attempt to liquidate our Palestinian cause and deny our established national rights,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement.
Mixed response from Republican Senators on Gaza plan
Republican Senators willing to speak out about Donald Trump’s plan to takeover Gaza for the US, have given a mixed response.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN it was an “interesting proposal” but also “problematic”.
“We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that. I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic. But I’ll keep an open mind,” he said.
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said that “there are probably a couple of kinks in that Slinky, but I’ll have to take a look at the statement.”
“I don’t know what to make of it,” said Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn. “Check back with me tomorrow, that’s a good idea.”
Trump spruiks US Gaza Strip takeover
There’s been no request to rebuild Gaza: Albo
Pressed on Trump’s move to takeover Gaza, Mr Albanese said he has not received any request regarding the rebuilding there.
“What we have said, though - clearly, we’ve supported a ceasefire. We’ve supported hostages being released. And we’ve supported aid getting into Gaza.
“There is a need to do that, and Australia is willing to assist getting aid into Gaza to provide that support. We have done so. That is consistent with what Australian governments have always done, which is to provide support.”
Albo on anti-Semitism
Asked about mandatory minimum sentencing for terrorism in Australia, Mr Albanese said: “I want to see people who are perpetrators of this - what are crimes - hunted down, put in the clink, and dealt with. We will provide the authorities all of the resources to do so.”
Albanese reacts to Trump’s stunning Gaza move
Anthony Albanese is reluctant to weigh in on Donald Trump’s stunning announcement this morning that the US would level the war-torn strip and take it over.
“Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year and it was 10 years ago and it was under the Howard government.
“The Australian government support, on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution in the Middle East.”
“We want to see - as have Australian governments for a long period of time going back to John Howard’s comments about the need to find a settlement to the Palestinian question. We’ve had a longstanding bipartisan position for a two-state solution.”