Saying his government was switched on to the needs of middle Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison today announced that Australia would recognise West Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, after weeks of deliberations.

In one of his first decisive moves as Prime Minister, Mr Morrison said the symbolic recognition of the small middle eastern nation’s capital tapped into the concerns and frustrations of everyday Australians.

“What mums and dads are talking about around the kitchen table right across the country right now is the relative merits of a nation in Oceania shifting its nominal recognition of Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” he said.

“People don’t want to hear about where their next pay packet is coming from. They want to know the answer to the trivia question ‘According to the Australian government, what is the official capital of Israel?’, which is why we’ve been spending so much time on this”.

He said the issue tapped into the core concerns of working Australia. “Regular Aussies on the streets tell me about their cost of living pressures, and I say to them – don’t worry, Australia is moving its embassy in from Tel Aviv”.

Mr Morrison confirmed that Australia’s Israeli embassy would move to Wentworth in April next year.

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