Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's Jewish and Muslim communities are made up of good people, good people who desperately want to see their brothers and sisters in the Middle East find a peaceful resolution to this conflict. They are good people who want to live in harmony here in Australia alongside their friends and neighbours from many other faiths. The recent horrific violence in the Middle East has unleashed a torrent of pain and grief for these good people; grief for those innocent Israelis and Palestinians who have lost their lives and pain for the families who wait anxiously to hear the fate of hostages, or who watch the mounting toll of civilian casualties.

While the roots of this conflict stretch back into history, the immediate catalyst for violence was the unjustifiable Hamas attacks which targeted and killed innocent civilians. I join with all members in this parliament in the condemnation of terrorism. We must have moral clarity on the condemnation of all acts of indiscriminate killing, all targeting of civilians and all taking of hostages. These Hamas attacks have set back the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people—the aspirations of the Palestinian people that I met this year as I travelled to Israel and the occupied territories were to live freely, to live in peace, to travel without checkpoints, to work without permits and to live without fear. And these are aspirations that many Israelis also want to see. Hamas's actions have made those actions harder to achieve.

Australia has rightly condemned the killing of civilians by Hamas. But condemning these actions in no way diminishes support for Palestinian statehood or support for human rights in the West Bank and Gaza. In the last 24 hours we have witnessed the destruction of a hospital in Gaza, which took another tragic toll. There is an urgent need to protect human life and ensure that Australia's response equally values the lives of innocent people, no matter what their nationality, no matter where they live and no matter what faith they hold. We repeat our calls for protection of civilian lives and the upholding of international law, including international laws against the taking of hostages and international laws against collective punishment. The international community is right to expect that humanitarian aid be allowed to enter Gaza and that innocent civilians will be protected. The Albanese government has allocated $10 million of additional and immediate humanitarian aid funding for the people of Gaza. Our diplomats are working incredibly hard to support all people, especially Australian citizens in this crisis, and I thank them for their efforts, led by the foreign minister, Penny Wong.

The Muslim community and the Jewish community in Australia are peace-loving people. They love our multicultural nation, in which Jews, Muslims and many other faiths live as neighbours and friends. All Australians have a responsibility to protect our multicultural harmony. We have to protect it from antisemitism, which has no place in Australia. And we have to protect it from Islamophobia, which also has no place in Australia. And I condemn all acts of Islamophobia and antisemitism with equal force. We must stand with our Jewish friends to ensure they are not subject to hate speech and we must stand with our Muslim friends to ensure their overwhelmingly peace-loving community is not tainted by association with the actions of a small minority.

In recent days I have met with and spoken with many leaders from the Jewish and Muslim communities. I commend them for their steadfast leadership amid their grief. I thank them for their actions to provide comfort and urge tolerance. I will continue to speak up for peace and justice—peace free from terrorism and peace without occupation and subjugation. We are all guided by a desire to see Israeli and Palestinian people coexist in peace and security.

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