As the grim milestone of 1000 days of genocide in Gaza ticked over, NSW Labor managed to gag debate on Palestine, AUKUS and protest laws at its July 4–5 state conference.

Premier Chris Minns smeared hundreds of peaceful pro-Palestine protesters outside the conference, saying that it was “not the first to try and disrupt our democratic conference … we’ve seen it all before”.

Inside, two dissenting Labor members who suspended a Palestinian flag from the gallery were manhandled out by NSW Police.

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claims he wants Labor’s national conference, July 23–25, to “showcase” Labor “as an inclusive, open, democratic party”, in fact, he is just as committed to avoid discussing AUKUS and Palestine.

There are sharp divisions inside Labor on both issues. But Labor’s leadership is confident that the promise of manufacturing jobs contained in AUKUS Pillar II will silence the blue-collar unions, although some have spoken out against the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines.

Defence industry minister Pat Conroy announced “the largest increase in peacetime defence investment ever” at the National Press Club on July 2.

Parroting Albanese’s “progressive patriotism” slogan, Conroy said AUKUS is “the greatest industrial project we have ever undertaken”. “Strong defence of our country — including the need to invest in our defence industry, people and systems — is a critical part of........

© Green Left Weekly