Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion presented by the member for Fadden and to thank him for raising in the parliament today this important and significant event: the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern state of Israel. As we heard, it was David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, who publicly read the declaration of independence of Israel in 14 May 1948. We know that Israel is counting down to this special day on 14 May this year, with Israeli culture minister, Miri Regev, recently revealing a series of ongoing events, beginning with the Independence Day ceremony on the Wednesday and ending on Saturday evening. This is 70 hours of Israeli festivity that will bring citizens together across the country in varied and joyous events held under the tagline 'a legacy of innovation'. This is drawing upon Israel's successes as the start-up nation and recognising the cutting edge technology which is developed locally. In announcing the celebrations, the minister said that the Israeli society is creative, looks to the future, thinks outside the box and is a trailblazer in research, medicine and agriculture, thereby providing a vital contribution to all humanity, which I couldn't support more.

Israel and Australia, as we know, have had warm relations and strong economic ties due to our strong people-to-people links and our commercial relationships for many decades. The trade between our two nations is worth around $1.2 billion, and we continue to explore partnerships to strengthen our economic ties to this day. Israel is a progressive, modern and forward-thinking state, and our two countries share not only the same values but also a close bond. We cooperate internationally with Israel in many fields, including international development assistance. Importantly, this includes Australia's international development assistance in Gaza in the West Bank, which supports human development, institution building and economic growth, which is so critical for peace in the region.

I rise also today to place on my record my strong support of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Former Labor leader HV 'Doc' Evatt, as President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1948 to 1949, was prominent in the negotiations that led to the creation of Israel. He wrote in his memoirs: 'I regard the establishment of Israel as a great victory of the United Nations.'

It was only last year that I had the pleasure of visiting Israel alongside a delegation with other new members of this place. It was an honour to visit and be guided by experts through a series of in-depth meetings alongside parliamentary colleagues, officials, academics, union and community leaders, and other Israeli and Palestinian representatives. The trip coincided with the 100th anniversary since British politician Arthur Balfour, later Lord Balfour, presented a declaration of the British government stating the case for the Jewish homeland.

2017 was also the 90th anniversary of the Zionist Federation of Australia, and I'd like to acknowledge the ZFA president, Dr Danny Lamm, the secretary, Mr Sam Tatarka, and my good friend the President of the State Zionist Council of Queensland, Mr Tony Leverton, who are all hardworking and dedicated members of the federation.

However, as is well known, the creation of the state of Israel is a story long filled with horrors and travesties inflicted upon Jewish people. What is also written in the history books is that Australia could have done more during these tumultuous times for Jewish people. As mentioned by the member for Fadden, whilst our country initially offered quotas of just 1,800 places for refugees, this was later increased to 15,000 refugees over three years. As we know, it's estimated that six million Jews and millions of others died during the Holocaust. Had the world acted sooner to more fully protect the Jewish people, this number could have been far lower.

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