Congratulations, Prime Minister
Leaders of Australia’s Jewish community have congratulated Scott Morrison on the re-election of his Liberal government.
PM Scott Morrison at a AICC event
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has warmly congratulated Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Coalition parties on being returned to power following the May 18 Federal election.
Co-CEO Peter Wertheim stated: “The Prime Minister described the result as a “miracle”, and it certainly went against the predictions of every published opinion poll over a long period of time.
The ECAJ thanks Prime Minister Morrison and his government for the consistent support they have given to the Australian Jewish community and to Israel. We wish the new government every success. We offer our hopes and prayers that our government leaders will be blessed with wisdom and righteousness in leading our beloved country, meeting its challenges and expanding opportunities for all.
We look forward to working with the new government and parliament on a range of issues that are critical for our community, including:
- increased security funding assistance;
- combating antisemitism and other forms of racism;
- maintaining support for Israel and checks on Iran; and
- preserving existing legal protections for religious freedom.
Finally, we extend our best wishes to the Australian Labor party as it takes stock and heeds the voice of the Australian people. In particular, we thank outgoing Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, his wife Chloe and their family. He has been a true friend of the Australian Jewish community and of Israel and still has much to offer Australia as a member of parliament. We wish him well in his future career.”
The executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Dr Colin Rubenstein warmly congratulated Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the entire Coalition saying: “Prime Minister Morrison and his Parliamentary team have provided much-appreciated support for the Australian Jewish community in the face of a global resurgence in antisemitism and upheld the shared values and interests we have with Israel as it confronts so many regional challenges.
Across a range of critical issues PM Morrison has shown true global leadership by making principled decisions that provide moral and political support for Israel and which recognise the fundamental truth that Israel is not the main impediment to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Particularly noteworthy has been PM Morrison’s record on Australia’s voting stance at the UN against outrageously biased anti-Israel resolutions and his recognition of the obvious fact that west Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since 1949, in the face of local and international opposition. We also commend his decision to embrace of the mutual benefits presented by deepening Australia’s ties with Israel in the cyber domain and by opening a defence and trade office in west Jerusalem this year.
We look forward to working with PM Morrison and his colleagues for the benefit of Australia and wish the government strength and good fortune in the coming term.”
Dr Rubenstein added: “We also congratulate Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his team for a hard-fought although ultimately unsuccessful campaign. The Labor Party under Bill Shorten’s leadership has consistently shown solid support for the Jewish community and an unequivocal recognition of the deep and abiding ties Australia has shared with the State of Israel since it’s birth. We are confident that going forward the Labor Party will maintain Australia’s bipartisan supportive stance on Israel.”
AIJAC would also like to acknowledge and express our gratitude to the many friends among the members who have either retired or been unsuccessful in securing a seat in the new Parliament.”
President of the ZFA Jeremy Leibler said “On behalf of the Australian Jewish community, we congratulate Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the re-elected Coalition Government. We look forward to continuing our support of the important work of this Government and furthering the already warm and enduring friendship it shares with the Jewish community and the State of Israel.”
“The Morrison Government not only showed moral leadership in recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and opening a trade office there, but it was also fearless in standing up for Israel on the world stage and call out bias at the UN. In fact, Australia was the only country on the UN Human Rights Council this year to oppose all anti-Israel resolutions.”
“We also pass on our best wishes to Bill Shorten and thank him for his six-year leadership of the Australian Labor Party. Mr Shorten is a strong friend of the Australian Jewish community and we acknowledge his long-standing commitment and support for the Australia-Israel alliance”.
“The ZFA would also like to wish a special Mazal Tov to Josh Burns who will succeed Michael Danby as the new Member for Macnamara and former Australian Ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma as the new Member for Wentworth. The Jewish community also offers its best wishes and thanks to Dr Kerryn Phelps, the first Jewish Australian woman to be elected to Parliament, for her service and leadership.”
I would hope that the criterion of being ‘a good Christian man’ is not applicable to being Prime Minister! And ‘good’ is, of course, a highly subjective judgement anyway.
It seems to me be that most Australians very much vote with their own individual comfort zone in mind exclusively, and while that’s understandable, it can also be selfish and greedy (depending on the circumstances). That’s where the election went awry for Labor, as well as the mistake of persevering with Bill Shorten as leader, who despite his capabilities was just never going to get Labor across the line.
It’s true that there are too many overlapping responsibilities in government tiers, however, essentially, we need a Federal government with vision for the future and real regard for Australians of all kinds. The ego and rhetoric that we have been battered with over the past few years does great discredit to the Coalition, so let’s hope they can relax enough to concentrate on the country’s needs now that they’ve been reelected. Something in me recoils against Morrison’s enactment of the election campaign, as it was superbly engineered to scare people away from thinking and he got away with refusing to confront any issues presented to him for response, mouthing generalities with bonhomie, possibly false bonhomie. This Coalition actually has a lot of problems to address with Australian society in mind – let’s see if another three years are going to be wasted. Thus far historically the Coalition have not been responsible for any large changes that benefit Australian society, such as Medicare and accessible tertiary education; their raison d’etre is ‘the economy’ (not people, but monetary statistics) and statistics show that historically the economy has fared similarly under both Parties if you examine the whole.
The ALP now has no electorates north of the outer suburbs of Brisbane in Queensland. The Coalition should thank the Greens for there vigorous anti Adani campaign that helped in this result. One ABC Radio Melbourne talk back caller from Qld this morning said we don’t want the ALP in Qld at all and praised Morrison as a good Christian man.
The Commonwealth has to stop interfering in state matter and mining is a state matter as is power generation. The Commonwealth should stick to there constitution responsibilities for the most part, they being Defence, External Affairs and Trade. The state run police, hospitals and education while local councils keep the place tidy. There is to much over lapping of responsibilities which is confusing and costly.
It was inevitable that Wentworth would go back to the Liberal. The parliament will be a better place now that Turnbull, Abbott are gone and Shorten on the back bench hopefully.
Are there any ALP MP’s who have actually made anything in their civilian life or provided a service like as a nurse? They mostly seem to be Uni arts and legal graduates, union hacks or staffers who have never had a real job. The Coalition are not much better.