Patrons:
The Hon. Dr Mike Freelander MP & Dr Marjorie O’Neill MP
Who Are we?
The Labor Israel Action Committee (LIAC) is a group of Labor members and supporters who are committed to upholding the friendship that exists between Australia and Israel as well as with the Australian Jewish community.
We seek to engage with all party members and supporters in NSW to ensure Labor maintains this long friendship and sensible policy position towards the only nation in the middle east that shares our party’s values in its commitment to democracy, trade union rights, a free press, free judiciary, equality of the sexes, the rights and protections for LGBTQI people, and protection of religious and ethnic minorities.
Israel also plays an important role as the steward and guarantor of security for some the world’s most important religious and historical sites for the Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Bahai, and Druze faiths. This enables worshipers from around the world to practice their faith in a region that has only recently been beset by civil war and terror organisations, like ISIS.
Australia, led by Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley, was the first country in the world to formally recognise Israel in January 1949 following from the mammoth efforts of Doc Evatt as President of the UN General assembly in the preceding years. It is a long history that Labor can rightly be proud of. Separate to our relationship with Israel, Jewish Australians have played a significant and positive role in Multicultural Australia and the Labor party and through these friendships and traditions we seek to encourage members of the Jewish community to support the NSW Labor party.
In contrast to this historical importance Israel is also at the forefront of the high-tech sector and with a similar climate to Australia shares some of our most important policy challenges such as climate, water management, medical technology, cyber security, and counter terrorism to name a few. These are all policy areas where greater exchange will benefit Australia.
What are our Objectives?
LIAC formally became a party unit in 2016 and committed to these objectives:
- To promote continuing friendship with Israel and further exchange in areas such as science, technology, environment, commerce, and culture.
- To promote the fraternal relationship between the ALP and the Israeli Labour Party.
- To promote friendship and understanding with the Jewish community.
- To support and promote the ALP's consistent and long-standing policy for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
By joining the Labor Israel Action Committee members agree to uphold the spirit and objectives of the group as outlined above. For further information, contact Byron Danby, LIAC Secretary, [email protected]
