For more on the Palestine decision, the Prime Minister joins us live in Melbourne. Good morning to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Nat, good to be with you.
BARR: Do you think this announcement that you made yesterday will actually change anything on the ground in Gaza?
PRIME MINISTER: What it does is send a message that the international community is saying enough is enough. This is a conflict that has gone on now for 77 years. The international community are saying we need to find a solution that provides security for the State of Israel, but also recognises the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for their own state. And that's why countries like the United Kingdom, France, Canada and now Australia, but other countries as well, will be joining in September at the United Nations to join the 147 countries that have already recognised Palestine. You can't just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome. And this is the best opportunity that there is out of a crisis to actually provide a long term solution. One in which the states around Israel recognise its right to exist. One which sees a demilitarised state of Palestine, enable Palestinians to just live. To continue to do the same thing is not enough.
BARR: So, we've just had Dave Sharma say, well, Hamas will just keep going. There's nothing to hold them into releasing the hostages, into going away. What will you do if they don't play ball?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're opposed to Hamas. Hamas can play no role. And what Mr Sharma knows full well, but didn't say, is that Hamas will be totally opposed to this decision. Hamas don't support two states, they support one state. In their own words, 'from the river to the sea', from the Jordan river to the ocean. And what this is about is increasingly the international community, the breakthrough statements that we've seen from the Arab League, the clear commitments that have been given by the Palestinian Authority of finding a way forward for peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis. There's been too much innocent loss of life. And I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu last week. You can't just continue to do what he is saying, which is we'll continue to just have this military operation without any political strategy for a solution going forward. We're seeing how it is playing out, which is Gaza reduced to rubble, tens of thousands of innocent lives being lost, innocent kids being killed while trying to get basic essentials of food and water. We just can't keep going the same way.
BARR: Yeah look, the world is watching that and, you know, people are sick of it. It's horrific watching that. But what about the argument that Hamas went in, they murdered those people on October 7 and two years later they've got partly what they want. They've got their own state.
PRIME MINISTER: Hamas do not want this. Hamas don't want two states. Hamas wants to destroy Israel, which is why Hamas can have no role whatsoever in a future Palestinian state. This is about isolating Hamas. And the clear statements by the Arab neighbours that was made just a couple of weeks ago in the meeting convened by France and Saudi Arabia was a breakthrough. We need Israel to be recognised by all the states around. In 1947, when the United Nations made this statement, they envisaged two states, one a majority Jewish state of Israel providing a homeland for the Jewish people and a state of Palestine living side by side in peace and security. Now, that was way back in 1947. We have had conflict in the Middle East ever since and I think Australians overwhelmingly want to see the killing stop. They also, of course, don't want to see conflict brought here to our harmonious, multicultural society.
BARR: Okay finally, what are you going to do if the US votes against this plan? Because I think from what I understand it, the Security Council is five members and they're the ones who don't seem to support it. Where does that put you with Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, President Trump, of course, has been a very strong advocate for peace in the Middle East, as he has in other parts of the world as well. We make our own sovereign -
BARR: But he's voted against a Palestinian state though.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will see how this plays out, but the world is coming together. Increasingly I've had very broad discussions with like-minded countries such as the UK and Canada and France and other countries in Europe. You had the clear statement joined on Saturday by Italy and Germany. And you have had increasingly the world looking at this and saying, what is the solution to stop this? I mean, October 7 happened with one of the world's biggest security forces in Israel, and it happened. The atrocity and terrorist actions of Hamas. We need to disarm Hamas. We need to get rid of them once and for all. And you need a strategy to do that. Good wishes won't do that -
BARR: And can that happen without the US's vote in the Security Council?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we want to see the world move forward on this, and certainly President Trump has been a very strong advocate for peace. President Trump will, of course, make decisions based upon the interests of the United States. My job as the Australian Prime Minister is to advocate and to, we're not big players in the Middle East, that is true. But this is a part of building that momentum of the world to say let's stop this and create a system where we won't keep going back to this over and over again. And that is what we have seen with the conflict in particular over the last couple of years that has led to devastation.
BARR: Yeah, yep. No one disagrees with that. Prime Minister, we thank you very much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much, Nat.
