Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

As a long-term activist and supporter of the Palestinian people, I rise to speak in support of this important motion. It's so important that it fills me with emotion.

This motion calls for the need to recognise the state of Palestine. It does so crucially as part of an enduring peace process and a two-state solution. This motion cannot be more urgent, and the context of peace and the two-state solution couldn't be more important. The death and destruction in Gaza must end. I know my electorate and the broader community are desperate for that to happen.

I am under no illusion that this motion will do that. It can't. But it illustrates what this Labor government has held as its position on Palestine for many years. It reflects our party platform. It puts a line in the sand once and for all, putting to rest untruths, misrepresentation and, quite frankly, lies bandied about by many in this House. This is a motion that looks towards the future—a different future. It's a motion that reflects a credible and genuine path to ending this conflict, one that seeks to secure a lasting and enduring peace for Palestinian people and all people in the region of the Middle East. What we are witnessing in Gaza right now is horrific. The widespread human suffering is completely unacceptable. The Albanese Labor government has been clear: this cannot continue.

For the past nine months, we've seen destruction, terror, killing and murder, and we absolutely grieve every single death, Palestinian and Israeli. This government, the Albanese Labor government, has been clear: the suffering must end. The Netanyahu government must stop its assault on Rafah. The flow of aid must be facilitated. A ceasefire must be negotiated. It's incumbent on us to ensure what we say in this House is not a risk to any of that happening, which is why we put this motion. The member for Gellibrand, the assistant minister, outlined so eloquently the hard work happening by this government. We are working towards peace. That is what governments do. But history has shown us that, if this war, this assault, were to end today, the peace may well be short lived. We've seen it before. In 2021, 2014, 2012, 2008, 2005, 2001, 1987—the list goes on and on. And it does so in this House, in this chamber, by a party of government that says we have to see an enduring peace, and that is why this motion is important. As a government, we have a responsibility to ensure whatever we do does not in any way have a negative impact on the complex situation in the Middle East. We need to be thoughtful and careful but also compassionate and caring.

Yes, the hostages must be released, and we condemn what happened—the attacks by Hamas on October 7. I cannot imagine what people living in this complex and unstable region have endured over the decades with this ongoing relentless and persistent threat of conflict. Children have spent their childhoods, people their whole lives, with regular conflict, losing members of their family, their livelihoods, their homelands, in decades of suffering. Three generations of Palestinians now live in refugee camps in Lebanon. The recent fighting has left innocent people dead and the Palestinian people displaced and disempowered—fighting that has left them not only homeless but stateless. It was the Nakba that uprooted millions of Palestinians from their homes, communities and lives, and there has been a cycle of violence and an inability to find meaningful, peaceful solutions.

So, as we face this present moment, this war in Gaza, we recognise the historical context and the need to take real action, thoughtful action, to create a better future, one that crucially includes a Palestinian state lying in peace beside a state of Israel, with genuine, meaningful peace across the region. The Labor Party believes that the suffering, the fighting and the displacement has gone on too long. We don't just scream and shout about this; we are a party of government. We want to get this done. We know that simply moving motions in the House or in the Senate, shouting in press conferences or singling out your political opponents won't do anything for the Palestinian people. The Australian government recognises a two-state solution, and we are working towards it.

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