More than 150 people attended the first candidates’ forum for the contested federal seat of Wills on March 6.
The forum, which was sponsored by the Safer World for All foreign aid campaign, included three candidates: Peter Khalil MP (Labor); Samantha Ratnam, former leader of the Victorian Greens; and Sue Bolton, four-term Merri-bek Councillor (Socialist Alliance). The Liberal candidate failed to show.
Khalil said when Labor was elected after a decade of Liberal cuts, “it started increasing the overseas development assistance (ODA) budget by $10.4 million”.
Despite this, as the organisers pointed out, the federal aid budget is at a historic low. At 0.19% of Gross National Income (GNI) it remains near the bottom of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and well below Labor’s very modest goal of 0.5% percent of GNI.
Khalil said that the budget is “not just about emergency relief or assistance, it’s also about Australia’s national interests”.
Ratnam and Bolton said foreign aid should not be justified by economic and security interests. They said it should be seen as reparations for ill-gotten gains and for rich countries’ role in causing climate change.
“The Greens believe that Australia, a wealthy country, has an obligation to contribute its fair share of aid and pay reparations for its role in the climate crisis and the ongoing damage caused by global warming,” Ratnam said.
Bolton outlined key principles on which foreign aid should be based.
“The weaponising of humanitarian aid needs to end,” Bolton said, pointing to Australia’s bullying of Pacific nations to relations with and aid from other countries if they want Australian assistance.
“Pacific nations should have the right to accept aid from whoever they want.”
Bolton criticised humanitarian aid for “often being tied to lucrative trade deals for the donor country, or military inputs from the donor country, or an obligation to have the contractors who deliver the aid projects from the donor country.
“We need to end this strings-attached aid,” Bolton said.
“The wealth of Australia was not only created as a result of the genocide of Aboriginal people. Australian companies were involved in stealing the wealth of the Pacific as well. We have an obligation to repatriate some of this wealth.”
The first question from the floor, from Green Left, was directed at Khalil.
“In the past you wrote an article entitled Confessions of an Israel Advocate in which you wrote: ‘When IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] officers plan operations they work within the constraints of international law and humanitarian norms — they work to minimise civilian casualties.’
“Given all that has occurred in the past 18 months, specifically the killing by the IDF of over 46,000 people, including some 18,000 children, do you stand by these statements, and do you remain an advocate for Israel?”
Khalil responded that he does stand by international law, arguing: “I’ve been consistent in the last couple of years in the call for Israel to adhere to international law. The statement you read out is from a different time. It was 20 plus years ago when there were hopes for peace.
“We [Labor] have been very consistent in being critical of the IDF and Israel for the actions they have taken with respect to the high casualties of civilians during this conflict,” Khalil said.
Ratnam said the community wants to know why Labor hasn’t sanctioned Israel when it has breached international law including using starvation as a weapon.
This concern dominated the remaining discussion.
Bolton said it is “alarming” that politicians have said nothing as Israel turned off food, water and medical supplies. “That’s a textbook case of genocide! There should be sanctions on Israel, just as there are on Russia.”
Ratnam and Bolton attracted the loudest applause.