Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The humanitarian disaster that we're witnessing in Gaza is deeply disturbing. The sheer scale of the horror is hard to fathom. It seems unimaginable there could be so much suffering, but there is, and we're watching it unfold in real time.

There's no doubt this conflict was caused by the Hamas terrorist attack against Israeli civilians and is perpetuated by the ongoing detention of hostages, but the military response from the Netanyahu government has gone too far, with more than 35,000 people now dead, including more than a hundred journalists and more than 200 aid workers.

On 20 May the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced he was seeking arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders and three Hamas leaders. In Australia this was immediately politicised, with the coalition threatening to cut ties with the ICC, undermining Australia's longstanding bipartisan commitment to international humanitarian law. Australia has led efforts to build an effective international criminal justice system to hold to account those responsible for grave offences against humanity. We cannot interfere with this system.

On the other side, the Greens keep proposing motions that make no mention of the role of Hamas or the hostages in order to wedge the government. Instead of using this traumatic situation for domestic political point scoring, we in this House must be united in using Australia's voice to hold all parties to account and to continue to call for a ceasefire.

See this speech in context