Richard Marles has characterised China as Australia’s “largest security anxiety” while arguing the government must continue engaging with Beijing despite ongoing strategic tensions.

Addressing the third and final day of Labor’s National Conference in Adelaide, the Defence Minister said Australia’s future security and success would depend on strengthening relationships across the Indo-Pacific and beyond, including with key partners such as India, Japan and the UK.

He also stressed the importance of maintain ties with China, describing the relationship as essential despite the challenges it presents.

“They are our largest trading partner, but they are also our largest security anxiety, and stabilising that relationship has been a significant achievement of our government, and we will continue to work with China where we can and disagree where we must,” he said.

“Of course, our most important relationship, the cornerstone of our foreign defence, our strategic policy, is our alliance with the United States.

“It has been in existence for decades... and it will be for decades to come, in the context of the past, and with the promise of the future”.

“Our job is to manage the present, and we do have a good relationship with this (Trump) administration, both in terms of delivering AUKUS, but actually more significantly in meeting our security obligations to each other as alliance partners.”

Meanwhile, Labor managed to tightly control the conference by ironing out an anticipated heated debate on the Middle East conflict.

Labor backbencher Ed Husic woke determined to have a say on the floor of his beloved party’s National Conference on Saturday but he soon found factional bosses had quashed his bid for a stronger stance on the Middle East conflict.

He had agitated for a resolution which called for stronger anti-Israel language including “genocide” but the debate had been muted after his selected seconder abruptly dropped out.

Mr Husic expressed his “disappointment” and “surprise” at what he described as “extraordinary amount of energy” applied to halt his advocacy in the foreign affairs portion of the party’s manifesto.

However, a senior Labor member mocked Mr Husic’s claim that he only found out his resolution had been nixed on Saturday morning, insisting it was “all a show”.

The party instead heard impassioned speeches from Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns and Palestinian backbencher Basem Abdo at the start of Saturday’s sessions on the party’s position on the middle East Conflict.

Their joint statements had been the culmination of three months of discussions.

Mr Burns called for factions to put aside their issues and to choose unity over division.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat stuff. Clearly today’s a big disappointment. It’s a big disappointment because we haven’t had a chance to talk to an issue,” Mr Husic said.

“But one thing I’m really confident to say is that it has the personal support of the majority of delegates.”

Mr Husic said Labor has “got to be able to do better” and the reports of dead children in Gaza should “send chills down the spine” of anyone.

“Once that chill exits that spine, steel has to replace them. We need to stand up. We need to work with other like-minded countries,” he said.

“This is an issue that is worth standing up on. I cannot be silent. The situation of Palestine is the moral issue of our times.”

When asked if the backbencher still believed he fit with the party, Mr Husic said he did and pulled out his Labor membership card to illustrate his loyalty.

“This party has been very important. It’s enabled me. It also supported me,” he said.

Labor have also amended their public platform to include the word “Islamophobia” alongside anti-Semitism and other grounds of abuse in a list of global discrimination problems.

A push for a separate amendment on AUKUS was also scrapped before the session kicked off.

After early morning rain initially dampened their efforts, around 200 pro-Palestine demonstrators rallied outside the Adelaide Convention Centre with banners and megaphones to press Labor delegates for stronger action.