Josh Burns joins others in in Labor over Greens preference deals

With less than two weeks until the federal election, Labor MP Josh Burns has taken a stance that sets him apart from most of his colleagues.

While the majority of Labor candidates across the country have directed preferences to Greens candidates, Burns has refused. In his electorate of Macnamara, he is running on an open ticket, choosing not to direct preferences to any other party.

In an exclusive interview with J-Wire, Burns said his decision reflects principle, not strategy. “There is so much noise and silliness around preferences,” he said. “No one can tell anyone how to preference. It is up to each individual person to fill out the ballot exactly how they want.”

His decision stands in stark contrast to that of most Labor MPs, including Jewish Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. In the seat of Isaacs, Dreyfus has accepted and directed preferences to the Greens, despite the party’s stance on Israel and its candidate Matthew Kirwan’s alignment with policies that include calling for “targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel” and describing it as an “apartheid” state. Dreyfus has previously accused the Greens of encouraging “riotous” and “sometimes violent” behaviour during pro-Palestinian protests but has nevertheless authorised a how-to-vote card directing preferences to the party.

The decision has drawn a strong rebuke from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which yesterday sent a letter to Dreyfus expressing “deep disappointment” over his preferencing of a candidate associated with the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, a group that has been accused by some of denying Israel’s right to exist. The letter noted that Isaacs is a safe Labor seat and questioned why preferences were offered to a party with a record of “urging on the most extreme expressions of anti-Israel hatred.”

In the seat of Macarthur, Labor MP Dr. Mike Freelander, one of the few other Jewish members of federal Parliament, has also chosen to preference the Greens; first-time candidate Frankie Scott. Scott has publicly backed the Greens’ hardline stance, calling for an arms embargo and sanctions against Israel, and has endorsed the party’s “Red Lines” policy, which includes banning military cooperation with Israel.

Other Labor candidates are directing preferences to Greens who have expressed strong anti-Israel and antisemitic views. In Victoria, Labor MP Julian Hill is preferencing Rhonda Garad, the Greens candidate for Bruce, who accused both major parties of being “complicit with what she described as the criminal Israeli government” and demanded Australia cut ties with Israel. Garad has also stated that the October 7 Hamas attacks must be understood in their “broader context” and has used the hashtag “#genocideofPalestinians” in campaign messaging.

In New South Wales, Education Minister Jason Clare is preferencing Greens candidate Omar Sakr, who has written on social media that “Zionism is on the side of Nazis” and has described Israelis in inflammatory terms, including calling them “genocidal racist scum,” in past social media posts. Sakr has also claimed that Zionists “shamelessly manipulate historic atrocities” to justify their own.

Even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has directed preferences to the Greens in his own seat of Grayndler, despite his past condemnation of the party’s stance on Israel. Albanese’s how-to-vote card places Greens candidate Hannah Thomas second, even though Thomas has publicly accused the Prime Minister of complicity in “genocide”, called for Israel to be sanctioned, and urged the government to expel the Israeli ambassador and cease all military trade. Notably, Albanese’s how-to-vote card does not identify Thomas’s party affiliation, avoiding an explicit reference to the Greens, despite the party’s extreme rhetoric on Israel.

Burns has refused to associate with any of it. “I wasn’t considering preferencing the Liberals either,” he said. “They have done deals with One Nation. They want to wind back access to university debt relief and offer nothing serious on housing or energy. But that does not mean I turn a blind eye to the Greens just because it is politically convenient.”

He added, “I am not a member of the Greens. I do not think they are offering sensible or realistic policies for this country.”

Burns is the only Jewish MP in the Labor caucus to run an open ticket, and his decision is as personal as it is political. Macnamara is home to one of Australia’s largest Jewish communities, and Burns’s own electorate office was defaced with anti-Zionist graffiti during the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023. “It was pretty shattering,” he said. “Not just for me, but for my staff. Vandalising my office did not bring peace anywhere. It just created more dislocation here in Australia.”

He responded not with fear, but with a call for respectful dialogue. “We need to have difficult conversations, but with respect. Violence and vandalism will not help anyone. I needed to support my staff and stand firm for the community.”

His work has extended far beyond electoral politics. Burns helped secure $18 million for the Jewish Arts Quarter in Elsternwick, supported an additional $57 million nationally for security at Jewish schools and synagogues, and led reforms that criminalised the Nazi salute and banned public displays of the swastika. After an arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, he worked with community leaders to ensure the site could be rebuilt with government backing.

On foreign policy, he has not hesitated to criticise his own party when necessary. After Australia supported a UN General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation, Burns said the vote oversimplified the conflict. “Let us not overstate what a UN General Assembly vote actually changes,” he said. “What matters is what happens on the ground. Hostages need to be released. Palestinian lives need dignity and security.”

He also noted that Australia has withheld funding to UNRWA for the 2024–25 financial year following revelations that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the October 7 attacks. “Australia renegotiated our terms of agreement with UNRWA,” he said. “Those new terms still need to be met.”

Instead of punitive aid models, Burns supports cooperative initiatives such as Project Rozana, which fosters partnerships between Israeli and Palestinian doctors. He helped secure $4 million in funding for the program. “That is the kind of bridge-building we should be doing,” he said. “It is where Australia can play a truly constructive role.”

Most of the electorates where Labor is not preferencing the Greens are those with high-profile independents, such as Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, and Monique Ryan in Kooyong. In these seats, Labor has directed preferences to the independent candidates ahead of the Greens, reflecting a strategic decision to support centrist challengers to the Liberal Party.

Labor MPs Peter Khalil (Wills) and Pat Conroy (Shortland) have also opted not to direct preferences to the Greens on their how-to-vote cards, diverging from the party’s broader strategy. Peter Khalil, representing Wills in Melbourne’s inner north, faces a competitive challenge from the Greens, particularly after recent boundary redistributions reduced his margin against them from 8.6% to 4.6%. Khalil has opted not to preference the Greens, instead directing preferences to the Legalise Cannabis Party.

In Shortland, located in New South Wales’ Hunter region, Pat Conroy holds a safer position, having secured 55.8% of the two-candidate-preferred vote against the Liberal candidate in the 2022 federal election. Conroy has also chosen not to preference the Greens, instead directing preferences to Independent James Pheils.

With his seat on a knife’s edge, Burns knows he is taking a political risk. “It feels like we have done the work. But every day counts. We are going to fight for every vote.”

“I’m proud that I’m a high-profile Jewish person in Australia… it’s who I am. I can never walk away from it, and I never would…” Burns said.

And if the result doesn’t go his way? “I am not there yet,” he said. “Being the member for Macnamara is the greatest privilege of my working life. If I am re-elected, I will keep doing everything I can to make sure our community has a seat at the table.”