Topics: Trump’s proposed ceasefire plan, Palestinian recognition, rates

E&OE.......................

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LAURA JAYES: A significant announcement overnight. Trump putting his peace plan to Netanyahu. Netanyahu has largely agreed. The one piece of this puzzle is Hamas. Will it agree to the terms? Liberal Senator and former Ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, joins me now. Dave, what do you think the chances of Hamas agreeing to it? Because if they do, they're essentially agreeing to give up power in Gaza.

DAVE SHARMA: Look, that's right, Laura. They're essentially signing their own extinction warrant, if you like. This agreement would require them to, yes, release the hostages, but also demilitarize and give up political power. It does provide them with an offer for amnesty, they won't be prosecuted or tried, and for safe passage, that is they can go into exile now. I think it depends on two things. How much military pressure are they under? And bear in mind that they have lost several generations of their leadership because of Israel's military campaign. And how much pressure do particularly nations like Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey bring to bear on Hamas's leadership. And they are very much part of this plan. Donald Trump met with them in New York last week. Their efforts are gonna be integral to getting Hamas to sign up to this.

LAURA JAYES: Trump and Netanyahu didn't take questions, so there was no opportunity for journalists in the room to clarify. One of the things we need, really need clarification on is what Netanyahu said about the Palestinian Authority. Because the plan did say the Palestinian Authority, essentially, um, once they sort themselves out and sought out the, the leadership, would run Gaza, for want of a better term. Did you read it that way? Do you think Netanyahu would ever allow that to happen? And if he did, under what circumstances?

DAVE SHARMA: Yeah, so look, the way I read the agreement is there's gonna be an interim civilian administration. There's gonna be this so-called Board of Peace, so there'll be a whole range of countries playing a role. There's gonna be a stabilization force which will presumably be led by Arab countries. But there will be a civilian authority in which a reformed, now that's an important caveat, a reformed Palestinian plays a part.

LAURA JAYES: What does a reformed Palestinian A reformed... mean?

DAVE SHARMA: Look, I think it's a body that's had fresh elections, that is committed to peace and coexistence with Israel, that doesn't pay blood money to the families of martyrs. No longer makes payments to the families of terrorists. And it has a sort of governance overseen by best practice.

LAURA JAYES: …With that wording?

DAVE SHARMA: I think he would need to, I think he would need to renew his democratic mandate. You know, bear in mind, he was last elected I think in 2005 now, so we're talking about 20, years ago. So, look, I don't think this is gonna be an easy sell for Netanyahu, the parts of his cabinet, but I think all of us in the international community who know this part of the world well know that if the Palestinian Authority is not playing a role, there is really no other Palestinian political body with legitimacy, that is not a terrorist that could play this role. So, I think it's inevitable that he will have to accept this, and I think Trump made that, has made that quite clear. Obviously, though, you know, for any of this to happen, we need Hamas to sign up to this.

LAURA JAYES: Do you buy the argument that recognizing Palestine, like Australia and the UK and France has done with countries like that, with influence, do you think that has spurred on what was laid out this morning?

DAVE SHARMA: No, absolutely not. It's done exactly the opposite. I mean, I think it just shows how foolish Australia's foreign policy has been. You know, here we were speaking about recognizing a Palestinian state last week that we could do nothing to help bring about, whilst the real work was being done with the US administration, with the Arab countries, with Israel. That's a group in which we would've normally had a seat at the table and a voice. But this plan has been developed and unveiled without any Australian input, without any Australian consultation, because we are simply not a trusted ally in the Middle East anymore. So, we have gone from having some influence to having no influence because of this misguided and utopian sort of foreign policy we've been pursuing under Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese.

LAURA JAYES: One final question, 'cause it is rates day, which, seems pretty insignificant given what we've just spoken about. But given your shadow portfolio, rates are likely to remain on hold. We've had a bit of a uptick in inflation on, on the monthly data. What do you say about the economy and how we should read the health of it at the moment?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, I think our economy's in very poor health. I mean, we saw inflation go from 2.8% to 3% year on year last month. We've just seen the, the final expenditure figures for government come out, which show that government expenditure is at a 40-year high. Um, that we've got a decade of deficits, that our debt is about to hit $1 trillion. So, the government's economic policy is making the Reserve Bank's jobs harder, and that's why we're not gonna see interest rate cuts today, or almost certainly not. The rest of the world, their economies are moving again. Their central banks are cutting rates. In Australia, we are stagnant.

LAURA JAYES: Dave Sharma, good to see you. Thanks so much.

DAVE SHARMA: Thanks so much, Laura.

[ENDS]

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