Extraordinary moment Peter Dutton tears strips off Albo over change to October 7 massacre motion – after he had a face-to-face meeting with PM

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has slammed Anthony Albanese for ‘trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth’ in the wording of an October 7 massacre condolence motion. 

The Prime Minister opened parliament on Tuesday by standing on a motion to condemn Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, paying tribute to ‘every single innocent life’ in the violence.

‘Our government has consistently and repeatedly called for a ceasefire for the release of all hostages and for the protection of all civilians,’ he said.

‘We remain committed to a two state solution as a path to an enduring peace, two states, Israel and Palestine, living peacefully side by side with prosperity and security for their people.’

However, Mr Dutton accused him of putting forward a motion which also recognises Palestinians, rather than solely focusing on the anniversary of 1200 Israeli deaths at the hands of terrorists.

He told the House of Representatives that it was clear he could not support the motion on Tuesday morning, after he met with Mr Albanese.

‘Regrettably, we’ve not been able to arrive at a position of bipartisanship in relation to this matter,’ he said.

‘I think when you go to the detail of what the Prime Minister’s proposed, it becomes clearer why the coalition cannot support this motion before the house at the moment.

‘This government has sought to walk both sides of the street … The Prime Minister should be condemned.’

 Mr Dutton said the motion goes beyond what should have a tribute to the 1200 Israelis who died on October 7.

He continued: ‘That’s what this motion was to be about, but of course the Prime Minister is trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth, and that is not something that we will support in relation to this debate.’ 

More to come