Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wannon for his question. Alex Dyson knows all about the member for Wannon, and it will be interesting to see what happens at the next election when people make a judgement about his character. If I were the member for Wannon, I would be knocking on doors. I would be doorknocking on the weekends. That's if he gets around to nominating. I'll give you some advice: don't leave it to the New South Wales branch!

The worst thing about this is that the member for Wannon should know better. He should know—and does know, of course—that Israel in fact closed the Rafah Border Crossing in May. He knows also that the ASIO director has very clearly spoken about the responsibility that politicians have with their language. He knows that full well. He also knows the diligent way that our security agencies do their jobs. He should also know the risk of serious division that the ASIO director-general has warned about.

I am also asked about interviews on Sky News. I hope that he also saw Mariam Dawwas, a Gazan refugee, in an interview with Tom Connell and Andrew Clennell. She had this to say: 'It was a long journey. We were hopeful that we would come to a place of peace. We are here in Australia, living here. It was a very, very hard experience. I lost my dad. We lost our dad during the war because of a lack of medical care and we weren't able to get him to the hospital.' She went on to say: 'I have lived my life in Gaza. I don't have any political affiliation with any of the political parties in Gaza.' She went on to say: 'I am myself a journalist. My sister is a doctor. I have a dentist brother and a dentist sister. So I am aware we are not the exception. We are normal people in Gaza, very normal people, not terrorists.' She went on to say very clearly: 'I wouldn't support killing civilians in any way, so I was against what happened on 7 October.' This is a real human being with real family here.

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