Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed that Australia will not revoke its recognition of Palestinian statehood, despite struggling to provide an assessment of progress on several Palestinian Authority reforms cited when recognition was announced.
During an Australian Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday, opposition Senator James Paterson questioned Wong and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials about five Palestinian Authority commitments: governance reforms, ending prisoner payments, education reform, demilitarization and elections.
Wong was asked whether Australia would ever reverse recognition if the Palestinian Authority continued delaying elections or failed to deliver its commitments.
Wong responded, "No, we have recognized the state of Palestine."
This came despite her own statement that the Australian government's policy on Palestinian statehood recognition is predicated on the delivery of its reforms.
DFAT subsequently clarified that "the recognition has happened, but further steps are contingent on these."
As previously mentioned, the officials spoke of the five reforms considered when recognizing Palestinian statehood in August 2025. These were: the PA to "Reform governance, terminate prisoner payments, institute schooling reforms, demilitarize, and hold general elections."
While Paterson repeatedly sought clarification on whether DFAT had independently assessed the likelihood of these reforms being achieved before recognition, the officials said they were unaware of such an assessment and would need to respond later.
When questioned by Paterson on governmental reform in the PA, DFAT officials repeatedly answered with information about Australian financial and technical assistance instead.
After being pressed several times, a DFAT official said, "I cannot give you a clear answer on that one. I'll come back to you on that one."
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DFAT said Australia had expressed deep disappointment over the postponement of Palestinian elections and continued pressing for a vote.
When questioned about whether elections were likely to take place, Wong argued that officials should not be required to speculate about future political developments.
She also criticized Paterson for his position, saying it "sets up continued tests, thresholds for the Palestinian people before a two-state process. Meanwhile, thousands of people, including children, are displaced, and human rights abuses continue to occur in the West Bank. I do not think that's responsible and I do not think that's in our interests."
Interestingly, regarding "prisoner payments", in reference to the PA's pay-for-slay policy, DFAT and Wong said the PA had substantially replaced its prisoner payment arrangements with a needs-based social welfare system.
One official cited a July 2026 assessment by US consultancy Alvarez & Marsal concluding that reforms had been "substantially" delivered.
Paterson probed: "So there are no payments being made to uh people who've been convicted of terrorism?" To which DFAT responded: "That is our understanding."
However, when Paterson highlighted that "substantially" means some elements remain incomplete, and asked what these are, Wong said officials relied on the external report and could not provide the details.
"I don't have this; it's a report," said Wong. "We're relying on their report."
Regarding schools and demilitarization, DFAT claimed antisemitic or otherwise offensive content in Palestinian textbooks was now very limited, citing reform work with the European Union and UNESCO. They could not immediately provide figures when pressed on the extent of remaining material.
On demilitarization, officials called reform in this field a work in progress and acknowledged challenges involving Hamas, while undertaking to provide a more detailed assessment.
Wong's overall argument was that delaying recognition until reforms were fully implemented would risk allowing Israeli settlement expansion to eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian state.
"There is no Palestine left to recognize if we just wait," she stressed.
Reflecting on the interaction during a News24 segment with Pete Stefanovic on Thursday, Paterson said: "The Albanese government has given away whatever leverage we had over the Palestinian Authority."
"There is no risk to them that they will lose recognition from Australia. And so, there's no need for them to undertake any of these reforms."
"I am deeply skeptical that these [reforms] will be met, and they certainly won't be met if there's no leverage, if there are no consequences," he added. "The Palestinian Authority has no motivation to achieve this because they've already got from Australia what they want. They wanted recognition; we've given it away, and we're going to get nothing in return.