Labor operatives are concerned the ALP may be heading towards election defeat given the anger over Palestine, as leaders behind the Muslim vote movements said politics would “never be the same again”.
It comes as hundreds of protesters chanted “f..k you Albo (and) Tony Burke” at Sunday’s Sydney rally, and The Muslim Vote and Muslim Votes Matter told The Australian that Labor should be prepared for a “long-lasting” political shift.
“The horse has bolted … things (politics) will never be the same again,” Sheik Wesam Charkawi, The Muslim Vote’s convener, said.
About 10,000 people descended onto the Sydney CBD in pro-Palestine rallies replicated across state capitals, ahead of more protests planned for the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Monday.
Hezbollah praised the protests, posting pictures from the rallies on its Telegram channel with the caption: “From Australia to the world.”
Labor figures, present at Sydney’s rally, said the palpable anger was striking, with many now believing that the party was heading for federal election defeat next year, such was the visceral vexation with the government’s stance and handling of the conflict.
The Muslim Vote is supporting candidates in “key electorates” it hopes to topple Labor, particularly in Mr Burke’s Western Sydney seat of Watson, where the organisation is co-ordinating independent Ziad Basyouny’s campaign.
Sheik Charkawi said there had been “emphatic” support for Mr Basyouny’s candidacy, saying it provided an opportunity to “challenge” Labor, who had “let down” the community.
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Flipping Watson and Blaxland will remain difficult for Mr Basyouny and The Muslim Vote, where Mr Burke and Mr Clare both enjoy about 15 per cent margins, but where Muslim voters make up about 35 per cent and 27 per cent of the electorate respectively.
The community is not homogeneous and elements of it, particularly in Watson, remain supportive of Mr Burke and Labor.
A Friends of Burke network co-ordinated by prominent Lebanese Muslim community leader Jamal Rifi will campaign for the two ministers to keep their pro-Palestine voices “in the corridors of power”.
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