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April 18, 2025
Friday 18 April 2025
Bruce Hill
The Australian Jewish News
Member for the Melbourne seat of Macnamara, Labor’s Josh Burns, has announced he is running an open ticket at the upcoming federal election on May 3.
This means his how-to-vote card will not direct preferences any other party. It comes after Burns, who is Jewish, has faced pressure from within the Jewish community to preference the Greens last.
He told The AJN on Friday afternoon, “This election, my message is simple: put a number ‘1’ next to my name so we can keep working together to build a better future for our community.
“The decision on where your vote goes, and what order you number the other boxes, is yours and yours alone.”
He called being the Member for Macnamara “the privilege of my life”.
“I’m proud to represent our diverse and beautiful community, and I’m seeking your support to continue delivering inside a Labor Government,” Burns said.
The hard-left Greens have long been overly critical of Israel but have been blasted by Jewish leaders for ignoring, downplaying and even enabling antisemitism since October 7, 2023.
In November 2023, Deputy Leader Senator Mehreen Faruqi was photographed next to a protester holding a sign depicting a Star of David being put in the bin. In early 2024, it was revealed that NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong in a speech referred to the “tentacles” the “Jewish lobby” uses to “influence power”.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said earlier this month, “The Greens claim to be counter-establishment and progressive. But they are rooted in the old failed ideology of communism and the socialism of fools – antisemitism.”
Burns addressed the extremist minor party during the Jewish community Macnamara debate on Wednesday night, to which Greens candidate Sonya Semmens was not invited.
“I’m fully aware… of how the members of the Greens party have behaved. I’m aware about how they have not been able to tackle antisemitism in their ranks. I’m aware of how they have weaponised it, and I’ve made those views clear inside the [Labor] party,” Burns said.
After Leong’s comments came to light in February this year, Burns said Jewish Australians “don’t feel safe and respected by the Greens”.
“To have blatant racism and targeting of a minority community, from a major political organisation in this country is just shattering,” he said.
Elections analyst Antony Green hypothesised on Friday afternoon that with an open ticket rather than preferences, instead of 85 to 90 per cent of Labor voters preferencing the Greens, only around two thirds would do so.
“Though Labor preferences only matter if Labor slips to third as otherwise Labor preferences won’t be counted,” Green said.
But Liberal Senator James Paterson said the Labor Party “should hang their heads in shame” over the open ticket.
“The Albanese government has said it will not tolerate hate and antisemitism. If they were serious about this no-tolerance policy, the Greens would be the last of their preferences, not just in Macnamara but nationwide,” he said.
“If Josh Burns was serious about defending the Jewish community in his seat, he would be directing his constituents to preference the Greens last.”