The gentle, lispy tones of Tony Burke, Minister for the Arts and Workplace relations in the Albanese government, belie the instincts of a hardened political street fighter. Burke was on the radio this week softly and compassionately eliciting sympathy with Palestinians in his electorate of Watson, in South-Western Sydney. Asked to declare his support for or against Canterbury-Bankstown council’s decision to raise the Palestinian Flag until a ceasefire is declared in Gaza, Burke was unequivocal: ‘I support the decision completely.