This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The federal ALP has moved closer to embracing Palestinian statehood, with the national conference passing the strongest resolution in its history calling on the next Labor government to proceed with recognition.

The resolution passed during the closing session of the 2018 conference, supporting “the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders” and “calls on the next Labor government to recognise Palestine as a state”.

Labor’s shift on Palestine follows the Morrison government resolving to become one of the few countries in the world to formally recognise West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

But while recognising Jerusalem as the capital, the prime minister pulled back from moving the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv – a move Scott Morrison flagged during the Wentworth byelection – until a peace settlement is reached. The recalibration followed a diplomatic backlash from Indonesia and other Muslim countries.

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The cross-factional agreement giving rise to Tuesday’s resolution is the recognition of the Palestinian state will be a cabinet decision of a future Labor government.

But, in seconding the motion, the New South Wales rightwinger Tony Burke, who has been at the forefront of internal efforts to shift ALP policy to a more pro-Palestine stance, told the conference the resolution was clear in its intent.

Burke said Labor had always recognised the right of Israel to have a land of its own, “and today we say the Palestinians also deserve a land of their own”.

The shadow foreign minister, Penny Wong, in recommending the policy shift to the gathering, said Labor was a friend of Israel and a friend of Palestine. She told delegates Labor wanted to not only deal with the world as it is, but also “seek to change it for the better”.

The debate about Labor’s foreign policy was the closing conversation of a national conference where factional powerbrokers worked overtime to minimise any public displays of divisions between delegates in an effort to spare Bill Shorten political embarrassment.

Exemplifying the objective of conflict aversion, Shorten resolved on Tuesday morning to shut down the final scheduled session of the conference – a debate over party rules and democratisation – where arguments between factional blocs would have been on full public display.

The closing session of the conference also passed a resolution committing Labor to a foreign aid boost during its first year in office, should it win the next election – a development that sparked cheering from the floor.

“Labor will, over time, achieve a funding target for the international development program of at least 0.5% of gross national income,” the aid resolution says. “Labor will increase aid as a percentage of gross national income every year that we are in office, starting without first budget”.

A third significant resolution – closing down an internal policy debate that persisted until Monday night – commits Labor in government to sign and ratify the nuclear weapons ban treaty, but only after certain conditions are met.

The conference resolution says first there will be a need to “ensure an effective verification and enforcement architecture; ensure the interaction of the ban treaty with the longstanding nuclear non-proliferation treaty; and work to achieve universal support for the ban treaty”.

Labor’s commitment was welcomed by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

“This is a major breakthrough that heralds a more constructive Australian approach to nuclear disarmament,” said Gem Romuld, Australian director of Ican. “The treaty is our best hope for making meaningful progress in eliminating the world’s worst weapons.”