A senior Federal Labor figure has welcomed the resignation of the party’s star Curtin candidate after comments she made about Israel outraged Jewish community groups.
Melissa Parke, a former Rudd government minister, on Friday night announced she was quitting the campaign because she did not want her “well-known views” on Israel to be a distraction for Labor leader Bill Shorten.
She made claims at a WA Labor For Palestine meeting last month that Israeli guards at a checkpoint in Gaza had forced a pregnant woman to drink a bottle of bleach.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen told the ABC on Saturday that Ms Parke had “done the right thing in standing aside”.
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“Her views didn’t represent the Labor Party views,” he said.
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Mr Bowen watered down Labor’s high hopes about their chances in the electorate saying Curtin wasn’t a seat they expected to win.
Ms Parke’s resignation is a major embarrassment for the Labor Party which, The West Australian revealed on Monday, had endorsed her as a candidate on Sunday night.
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Her preselection was a radical change in strategy for the ALP in Curtin, with Labor hoping her candidacy would force Liberals to divert resources to the usual safe seat.
Ms Parke had been outspoken on Israel during her previous stint in Parliament, including her support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign that promotes a boycott of Israel.
Curtin independent candidate Louise Stewart said that she believed Ms Parke’s resignation was appropriate given the offence she had caused local Jewish community groups.
“The people in Curtin are really sick of the two major political parties just playing politics,” she said. “Let’s just get on with the job of representing the community. Even the Labor Party didn’t think she could win.”
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Ms Parke’s speech was described by Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein as “nothing more than a laundry list of slanders”.
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“We have seen in other countries what happens when political parties turn a blind eye towards fanatics and conspiracy theorists in their ranks,” Mr Rubenstein told News Corp.
Ms Parke warned the audience, which included Labor MP for Fremantle Josh Wilson and Senator Sue Lines, that Israel’s “influence in our political system and foreign policy is substantial”.
Mr Wilson and Senator Lines did not respond to phone calls or texts from The Weekend West about the comments.