Could anger over Gaza deliver Labor its own 'teal' moment'?
A nascent political movement is looking to harness the Muslim vote at the next election.
Two years after the Liberal Party lost some of its safest and most prized seats to a group of climate-focused independents, a new movement angered by Labor’s response to the Gaza crisis wants to inflict its own ‘teal moment’ on the Albanese government.
There is growing momentum to formalise that movement into a political force at the next election. Capital Brief has confirmed Pro-Palestine advocates have held a series of meetings with senior Muslim leadership groups across Australia for months, discussing potential independent candidates who would target vulnerable seats at the federal election. Another meeting was held in Sydney on Sunday.
For now, the idea is still in its infancy.
Palestinian-Australian and former federal Labor staffer Fahad Ali has been part of the process, and conceded the movement may be “cutting it fine, especially starting from scratch”.
But Ali believes "word of mouth will travel very quickly" if the right candidate was selected and endorsed by local mosques, singling out two Labor ministers potentially in the movement's sights.
