In the US and UK registration and voting are not compulsory and therefore disillusionment or disengagement with politics results in a lower turnout of eligible citizens. In addition, the first past the post system as well as America’s electoral college often means that a government is put in power with a minority of the votes.

In the recent UK elections, the Labour Party received only 33.6% of the votes (20% of eligible voters) but bagged 65.8% of the seats. In Australia, with compulsory registration and voting, participation is high.

However, disillusionment with the main parties has meant that they have not received much more than one third of the primary vote in recent elections. This has led to a growing number of crossbenchers that the preferential voting system enables.

The two major parties do not seem to have been able to accommodate the increasing diverse nature of Australian society even though in the past they had been willing allow a conscience vote on some issues that impact deeply held beliefs.

However, Payman claimed her vote was in line with “…. with the core values of the Labor Party, equality, justice, fairness and advocacy for the voiceless and the oppressed.”

In the 2019 election 25.3% of first preference votes for the House of Representatives were for a party other than ALP or LNP and in the 2022 election over 31.7% of first preference votes were for minority parties or independents.

Such votes in the inner-city seats in particular are changing the political equation for the major parties. The major parties are only gaining two-thirds of the overall vote. In the past they received more than 80% of the vote.

This long-term trend of decline in the vote for the major parties means that a “third force” in Australian politics can have a major impact as the dominance of the major parties seems to be declining.

This is where the Muslim Vote comes in, not as a political party but as an educational and campaigning movement for candidates that stand up for justice and are against genocide.

There are a number of constituencies with a high population of Muslims where a united Muslim vote can determine the outcome and others where the Muslim vote working with others can also determine the outcome.

The failure of the major parties in the UK to deal with the systemic issues – poverty, cost of living, austerity and privatisation that has mean deterioration in public services — saw right wing Nigel Farage’s Reform Party coming second in many constituencies and Marie La Penn coming close to victory in France with both blaming the problems on migrants.

The lesson from the recent UK elections is that a united Muslim voice can be decisive and a divided one disastrous. Several anti-genocide candidates won and some only lost by a tiny number of votes and could have defeated the Labour or Conservative candidate if Muslims had been united. Greens in the UK came second to Labour in 41 constituencies and the Muslim vote played a role in the victories of the Greens and Liberal Democrats.

Muslims also played an important role in stopping the far right from taking power in France. For example, the Friday sermon before the elections had an important component about the need for Muslims to do their duty and vote according to principles, including the need to safeguard the interests of the Muslim community.

The leader of the winning left Alliance, JLM, says that a priority is to recognise the state of Palestine. In France, power is shared between the President and the Prime Minister, so negotiations will be needed. Most importantly, JLM says that the key to victory against fascism and warmongers is a permanent mobilisation of freethinking people, a smart organisation of events and demonstrations and making creative alliances.

Both of the main parties in Australia are deeply influenced by the pro-Israeli lobby, the Murdoch and right-wing press, right wing dark money funding social media campaigns, lobbying by the oil and gas and financial institutions.

Neither party has been willing to challenge the US on any substantive issue even where US policies are clearly not in Australia’s national interest. The LNP and ALP subservience to the US is unchallenged.

The anti-Voice campaign was supported by huge funding from US dark money. However, even though many Australians are finding life difficult, both parties offered business-as-usual policies their election campaign in 2020.

It was a lacklustre and negative campaign often focused on the character of the leaders of the major parties and gotcha moments. The Liberals lost many of their blue-ribbon seats to “teal” independent candidates, and both the ALP and Liberals lost several inner-city seats to the Greens.

There doesn’t appear to be much difference in Muslim Australians forming a pressure group to bring their concerns and interests to the attention of politicians from that of Jewish and Zionist groups attempting to influence policy over the state of Israel or Catholic and mainstream Christian groups including the Australian Christian Lobby seeking to influence policies over state aid to schools, abortion and other issues.

The Muslim groups organising are critical of the government of Israel’s actions in Gaza as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and like many other Australians wish that Australia would put more pressure on Israel to behave as a decent international citizen.

They also think that Australia, and other western countries should do more to help Palestinians who have had their homes destroyed and up to 180,000 of the population killed and 78,000 wounded in Israel’s horrendous bombing campaigns.

Despite the knee-jerk response from the ALP, the pearl-clutching and fear mongering of the Murdoch and other mainstream media including the ABC as well as the blatantly partisan response of the LNP and the national security establishment, this effort to establish a Muslim lobby is NOT about imposing Shariah law in Australia or supporting terrorist movements in Australia or establishing a Muslim political party.

Particularly disappointing was the ABC’s coverage, epitomised by David Speers, a former Murdoch media journalist, who in his interviews of Mehran Faruqi and his gotcha questions to Fatima Payman, seems have maintained the Murdochian distorted view of Muslims.

The Australian media and political elite do not seem to understand or even try to understand that the Palestinian Christians and Muslims who are indigenous to Palestine have been denied statehood since they were either expelled en masse from their land or it was occupied.

The Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are subject to dispossession, arbitrary detention, settler violence and the whims and fancies and excesses of the state of Israel without any rights.

Even the two million Arab Israelis are subject to around 60 laws that discriminate against them which demonstrates the sadly undemocratic unjust nature of the ethno-supremacist state of Israel

Polling in February by humanitarian agencies including Caritas Australia, Plan International Australia, Oxfam Australia, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, ActionAid Australia and Baptist World Aid highlighted the massive and growing concern in the Australian community about the drawn out and devastating war in Gaza.

Many traditional Labor supporters including unions are expressing their deep disappointment about the lack of principle, excessive timidity and want of courage and guts of the current Labor government.

It seems that internal debate inside Labor is being stifled and the party will continue to suffer at the ballot box if it cannot remain a “big tent” with diverse views. The huge destruction and enormous number of casualties in Gaza and recent actions in the West Bank have made Australians more aware of a long history of discrimination, dispossession and territorial encroachment by the Israeli state, the IDF and the Jewish settler movement.

The poll found that four in five Australians are in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza (81%), and a majority (53%) support the Australian Government taking more action to achieve that goal.

This is across the political spectrum and the Gaza crisis remains an issue of deep concern, with almost one in three (30%) saying they would take it into consideration when deciding their vote at the next federal election. 89% of Labor voters support a ceasefire, with 62% supporting more government action and 74% of Coalition voters are in favour of a ceasefire, with 45% supporting more action.

Support for more action from the Australian Government is higher among younger people, with 61% of 18–34-year-olds wanting the government to do more. The media, the LNP and Labor seem to be completely out of touch with public sentiment including the unions on this issue. There are other parties whose support is increasing that have a progressive stance that appeals to young and principled people.

Support for a more ethical and justice-oriented politics may well become even more attractive as the next federal election campaign is likely to see the LNP taking hard line on supporting Israel as well as taking a leaf out of the Howard and Hanson playbook using immigration and anti-Muslim sentiments.

It is doubtful if Labor will change its stance on Israel, AUKUS, deference to America and neo liberal economics. The LNP will also campaign on opposing action on climate change and a resolution of the issue of the rights of indigenous people.

Isn’t now the best time to support the efforts of Muslims to organise in support of candidates who better stand up for justice, oppose genocide, offer positive solutions, and offer real change more in line with the Australian value of a fair go than those of the major parties who have been silent or endorsed openly or tacitly the policies and the arming of Israel?