Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with the resolution agreed to earlier today, statements relating to Hamas attacks on Israel and ongoing conflicts may now be made.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said previously, I mourn for those families who have lost loved ones. This—and I'm not using it as a prop; I'm using it as a piece of evidence—is a notice of intention to hold a public assembly. It's a two-page document, it's available online and it's what should've been filled out when there was going to be a rally at Sydney Town Hall last week to stand up for—I use those terms very loosely—Palestine.

The New South Wales Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism, Yasmin Catley, told the state parliament that the protest, at which flares were thrown and anti-Jewish hatred chanted—and I'm not going to repeat them now; we heard them from the opposition leader and we've seen them all too readily on our television screens, in our newspapers and on our radios in recent times—was a 'spontaneous gathering'. Yeah? Nah! I'm sorry; this was promoted, aided and abetted by the New South Wales Greens, and they stand condemned for their disgusting actions. Shame on them! But it didn't just stop there. If it had and they'd walked back from it, we could be forgiven for thinking they had made a mistake. And we all make mistakes.

We know that atrocities have been committed and innocent lives lost in the most barbaric ways in Israel. No-one should be supporting or celebrating this. No-one should be throwing flares and projectiles at the police. I'm so pleased that the New South Wales Police—they should not be criticised at all—made sure that there was the necessary staff for ensuing gatherings.

We have a motion in this place today brought by the Prime Minister, and I commend him for it. I applaud the opposition leader's words. I sent a text to the Deputy Prime Minister regarding for his eloquent speech on the motion before us—not on the amendment brought forward by the Leader of the Greens. When that amendment was rightfully lost, we then had the unedifying sight—though perhaps it wasn't so unedifying, because there was a show of solidarity from the fair-minded members of this parliament who sat on the government benches and voted for the proposal put forward by Prime Minister Albanese—of the Greens leader, the member for Melbourne, and the member for Brisbane, the member for Griffith and the member for Ryan, all Greens, voting against it and being rightly defeated.

Senator Faruqi is the Deputy Leader of the federal Greens. When this place was illuminated in blue and white in support of Israel, she tweeted, 'One colonial government supporting another. What a disgrace. #FreePalestine'. Then you have Jenny Leong, a New South Wales Greens parliamentarian, sending tweets that could only be described as disgraceful. I'm not going to read them, because it only promotes the cause they are promoting.

I also have to say that, if it is good enough for a secretary of the Public Service to stand aside because of a message he may or may not have put up on WhatsApp, then that should be good enough for a journalist who describes the beheading of Israeli children as 'BS' on a chat group with other media and then doubles down. If it's good enough for a secretary of the Public Service to be stood down, I would ask whether that person is still in his job. We need to be very careful when atrocities such as this occur. Women were having their phones and purses taken from them and then petrol was thrown on them and set alight, and in some instances their children were beheaded before them. And we've got people—leaders, journalists—making comments which are simply untrue. It's just beyond beyond. It defies logic.

As a friend reminded me this morning, it does not matter what side, innocent lives are being taken. Yes, these atrocities were caused and created by Hamas. It is a terrorist organisation, make no mistake. But not all Palestinians agree with the incursion and invasion and atrocities committed; they do not, and their feelings should be respected as well. Israel has to do what it must do to defend itself, and anyone who thinks otherwise is not being fair-minded. We do need a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. It is simply not good enough that people are making statements of which they have no facts. They are using their hatred and their longstanding bias against Israel, and this is so unfortunate.

One of the best moments I ever saw—and I notice that the member for Chifley has sat through a number of these speeches, and I asked him this morning if he was okay—in this parliament was when he, a Muslim, and the former minister for Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg, who is Jewish, whose parents fled from the Holocaust horrors of war-torn Europe—and I know the member for Chifley's parents also came to this country for a better life. They hugged each other after a rather terrible statement was made about Jews in the Senate by a senator, who thankfully is no longer in this place and whose name I won't even dignify by mentioning. We all know who he is. That should be how this parliament operates, and it was seen in a good light this morning when the Prime Minister made the motion and spoke to the motion. Others have stood up and addressed this motion, because it is important.

We should stand with Israel. Any deaths on either side, Israel or Palestine, should be abhorred. People have lost their lives, children's lives have been disrupted forever, and families have been torn apart. It's so terrible. I mourn with Israel.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also grieve for those innocent Israelis, Palestinians and those from other nations who've lost their lives in the latest shocking atrocities in Israel and the occupied territories. The pain of those families who've lost loved ones in Israel and Gaza or who wait anxiously to hear of the fate of hostages from multiple countries across the world is profound. None of us can really know that. We can try and bear witness to it and acknowledge it and honour it, but it's not our pain to know.

Make no mistake: this is an utter tragedy for the innocent Israelis and innocent Palestinians, who are victims in this. What is happening now is a terrible, horrible situation, and I fear greatly for what will come in the days and weeks ahead and the potential for escalation of violence in Israel, Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and neighbouring countries. It is also horrific for the Australian Jewish and Muslim communities, distraught in the face of loved ones, their brothers and sisters, and at the prospect of peace in this long-troubled region. The overwhelming majority of Australian Jews and Australian Muslims that I know are good people. They are good Australians who desperately want to see a just resolution to this conflict.

This parliament is right to condemn unreservedly the attack by terrorist group Hamas on innocent civilians. These murderous attacks were designed deliberately to provoke terror and international outrage. But one of the numerous tragic aspects of this attack, beyond the horrific and immediate impacts on human life, is that the actions of Hamas are not in the interests of Palestinians. Hamas's actions hamper efforts to achieve the two-state solution for which I and most Australians have long advocated, and I know that you Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, have been at the forefront of that effort for many years in this parliament. Australia has rightly condemned the attacks by Hamas, including indiscriminate rocket attacks fired on cities and civilians and the horrific taking of hostages. Hamas do not represent the interests of Palestinians and they do not care about human life. They do not care about the lives of Jewish people, whom they seek to slaughter. They do not care about the lives of the Palestinian people, whom they use as cannon fodder for their political aims. And they do not care about the lives of citizens of other countries.

Of course, saying that Hamas are a vile terrorist group in no way diminishes support for Palestinian statehood and a just settlement, and I acknowledge in particular the members of the opposition who've chosen not to play politics with this and to acknowledge that simple point. Saying this also in no way endorses the legitimate criticisms over many years of the Israeli government's settlement policies and the occupation.

All human life is sacred and innocent civilians should be protected. In that context, of course Israel has an inherent right to defend itself, and it should not be controversial to state that that right is not unfettered and does not and cannot justify any action or the indiscriminate mass killing of innocent Palestinians in response. Australia has consistently and loudly said that Israel must act within the rules of war. Australia has expressed a principled view that Israel and all actors should seek to protect civilian lives. The overwhelming feedback I've had from my community is the concern and the need to protect human life and ensure that Australia's response, along with that of the rest of the international community, equally values the lives of people in Gaza—innocent Palestinians—and of Israelis and their collective suffering and loss. I share this concern and, in doing so, I decry the gross politicisation of this tragedy by the Leader of the Opposition in a certain national broadsheet.

An overwhelming message from my community now is despair and terror at what may be coming in the days and weeks ahead and a cry that the mass punishment of two million people in Gaza is not a proportionate response and that this is a trap that Israel must not fall into. It is what Hamas are trying to provoke. It seems clear that there is a geopolitical element to this organised attack by Hamas that has little to do with the conflict and occupation and much to do with regional geopolitics in Iran. I agree with the many speakers who have called out the nefarious and insidious impact of Iran.

The international community is right to expect that humanitarian aid will be allowed through and that innocent civilians will be protected, and I welcome the government's allocation of $10 million of additional and immediate humanitarian aid funding for the people of Gaza.

Antisemitism is to be utterly condemned, and the fear that the Australian Jewish community is now feeling is unacceptable. Antisemitism hurts us all, as we're a multicultural and proudly diverse nation. Islamophobia is corrosive and unacceptable and hurts us all. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess was right to call for calm in the Australian community, and responsible political leaders will heed this call. I'll continue to speak up for peace and a just resolution. I hope that all of us are guided by a common principle of a just and enduring peace, a negotiated two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state co-exist in peace and security within internationally recognised borders. Though that day sadly seems further away than before these attacks, we must never give up on peace.

Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the contributions by just about everyone in this chamber. This isn't an easy time, and these aren't easy things to speak to. Often, through the day, we have been talking about images and events that are quite graphic. At some times, there were children visiting this place. That might have been hard for them, but that is what we do here: we stand up and we speak about things in tough times and we speak to communities to say, 'You're not alone.' There are many Australians who are looking for comfort because they are scared right now.

Jewish people should feel safe in Australia. Jewish people should feel safe in Israel. Indeed, it's why it exists. This wasn't just an attack on the sovereignty of a nation. It wasn't just an incursion across a border. It was an attack on the sovereignty of people's homes. Families were in their places of refuge, in their places of comfort and in their places of the most significant joy. The doors that they walked through after they were first married, the doors that they walked through when they brought their children home from a hospital became the doors that saw terror enter their homes, and none of us can imagine what those moments were like. They weren't just filled with unwanted attacks and murder. Where there was time, they were filled with the worst imaginable torture, and the torture wasn't just reserved for the man of the house. It was also for the mothers, the grandmothers—some of whom were Holocaust survivors—the children and the babies. That's where some of the most unimaginable acts of human torture happened, in 2023. In this time, in this age, with all of the modern technologies and advancements we have, this happened on our planet on our watch.

Many have said, 'Protect your loved ones from the images that are on social media,' and we must do that. But for those of us who are adults and are in places of responsibility, like here, we should look at them. We should look at what terror actually is and what actually happened, because, when you look at what was deliberately planned and executed, you realise this was no normal event. It is not hyperbole to say this was Israel's September 11 moment. When you look at the proportion of deaths to the population, it was worse, and, like September 11, it left a mark that will echo through the decades. It impacted my life, halfway around the world. This will echo through the decades for Israel, for Jewish people and maybe for all of the world.

Other members have been right to point out that this wasn't just about Hamas and that particular border crossing point and the destruction they caused. There are regional and global strategic interests at play as well. Those things will play out in due course. But we mustn't look away. When we don't look away, we see the horror of children who weren't just executed; their burnt bodies were found lined up with their hands tied behind their backs. Of all the horrors that happened in the Holocaust and the scale of that, this form of death is even worse. And it happened in 2023—not in 1943 but in 2023. Children were killed in their cots. In the aftermath, family pets were sitting on the beds where their family had been. If they could talk, they'd say, 'I let you down.' For fathers and mothers, we can only imagine that, as they did everything they could to save and shield their children, they also thought: 'What have I done? My God, I've let my family down.'

I think of the father who gave an interview on Al Jazeera or the BBC. I think he was a man with an English accent; he may have been born in Ireland. He let his daughter Emily go to a sleepover. Emily was only eight. For a few days he didn't know where Emily was or what had happened to her, and, when he was told that Emily was killed, he jumped with joy. He was so relieved because, for him, that was better than what he thought would happen if she were taken hostage in Gaza, because by then he had seen and heard of the torture and inhumanity that had happened to his neighbours and others in the kibbutz. Just stop and think about that: a father feeling joy that death for his eight-year-old at a sleepover was better than the alternative.

We mustn't forget the images of children and women being taken hostage. That was a deliberate act. That's part of what's coming next. We saw the images of a young girl with bloodied clothes being dragged by her hair from the boot into the side of a car. We saw the grotesque images posted of Hamas holding young children and a baby in a pram. That image is designed to cause terror and fear. And then the threat not only to execute the hostages but to broadcast it, to publish it—that's the worst fear imaginable. That is why the comparisons with ISIS are absolutely right. But, again, Hamas is probably even worse because of the scale of the attacks and the scale of the terror. Hamas is not only an enemy of Israel; it's an enemy of the world and it's an enemy of the people of Gaza. Other members are right to point out that this act of terror isn't just an end in itself. It is designed to provoke a reaction and it is designed to see retribution, and they have designed it in a way that the legitimate military targets are put in places where civilians are. Those are decisions that Hamas are making. None of us who say, 'Israel has a right to defend itself,' will take any joy or any pleasure with what's coming next. No reasonable person would look forward to that.

I think of the many families in Australia who have relatives who are reservists, who signed up and did their training in the Israeli Defence Forces and who have now been called up. In the coming days, weeks and months, many of them will die. That will happen. And those families are living with that fear and apprehension right now. I'm thinking of the families of the hostages who are there. There's potentially some hope, some way that they can be saved, and if there's any humanity in Gaza, any humanity in Hamas, please do everything you can to see them released. Even just some of them, just the children and the babies—let them go.

In July, I was on one of three parliamentary delegations that left from this place with members from across the aisle and went on various trips to Israel and Palestine. On my particular trip we went throughout Israel, but I remember being in Sderot, in the north-eastern border town near Gaza. We were shown a playground where bunkers were turned into a snake that children would feel free to play in. I keep thinking that many of the children who played in that are no longer with us anymore and many of those children who played in that playground are now hostages in Gaza.

I know it's unparliamentary to refer to members' names, but I want to single out some of the Jewish members in parliament here: Mark Dreyfus, Julian Leeser and Josh Burns. It has been particularly hard for them, as well as for some of the Victorian state members: Paul Hamer, who overlaps with my seat, and David Southwick. This is particularly hard on that community, and I acknowledge that it is hard on the Palestinian community here, too, and on members who have relatives in Gaza. That has been put well by other members.

I want to acknowledge the North Eastern Jewish Centre in my electorate and I want to thank the Community Services Group in Melbourne, who are working around the clock to keep the Melbourne Jewish community safe. I want to thank you, and say that we're thinking of you and are here for you.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in this House to speak to my community and on behalf of my community. I often say of the electorate I represent that it is one with many challenges, but one of incredible possibility. Last week I was in India, describing our community to civic leaders and politicians there. To describe it best, I cut to our schools, where children from over 100 countries can be seen at school assemblies, sitting side by side, shoulder to shoulder. These children and their families, our civil institutions and leaders work hard every day to build a cohesive, multicultural, multifaith and multilingual society: a pocket of Melbourne's west that the world will look to as a great multicultural community. It's where the world comes together to build a strong, compassionate and collaborative society—a community built on respect, where we can look one another in the eye and have difficult conversations in trusted ways.

As the elected representative of that community here, I stand to condemn the attacks by Hamas in Israel 10 days ago. World events are, very naturally, discussed in my community, as there will be a personal take, a family connection or the deep knowledge of a place which people have come from. My community is not home to a large Jewish community but it is home to a large global community, and it was rocked last week by the news from Israel. We were shocked by the violence, the loss of life and the hostage-taking, and aghast at the actions of Hamas. I join with all those in this House today to condemn the actions of Hamas. These were motivated by hate, but I also want to separate the actions of Hamas from the people of Gaza and the people of a future Palestine.

I rise to join other voices to acknowledge that the attack has set back hopes for the two-state solution that would allow both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace inside safe and internationally recognised borders. That knowledge is deeply understood in my electorate; it is deeply understood in my community. I rise because in my community, across a weekend when we in Australia went out to have our democratic say on a debate, we walked past one another respectfully and took things from one another before we went in to vote. While that was going on, members of my community were emailing me, holding their breath for fear of what was going to come to the people of Palestine.

I have worked with young people all my life. I have supported them in building cohesive communities and helped them to understand why we have rules, and that rules are there to protect them. Many in my community have emailed me across this weekend. While we conducted a referendum, while we used our democratic decision-making processes, locals took time to reach out to me to express their fears for the innocent civilians; for those already lost in attacks and those lost already inside Gaza, where two million civilians live. So I also join calls today for respect for the rule of law, for international law.

When I work with young people, I always talk to them about what happens when conversations stop, hatred takes over and violence becomes a part of our community. Hate begets hate; anger begets anger. I ask my community to join in the hope that we can still find a peaceful solution here.

I welcome the commitment made by the Australian government: $10 million of aid to support the humanitarian assistance. That will provide much needed essential supplies and support services for civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza. I call for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians affected by the worsening humanitarian crisis. I add that we are committed to the pursuit of peace and a just and enduring two-state solution where Palestinians and Israelis can live within those secure borders.

I urge my community and communities across Australia to remain respectful and to strongly condemn anyone who incites violence and hatred in our community. While we respect the right of anyone in Australia to protest peacefully, violence is unacceptable. I encourage families, friends and communities to contact authorities for help and advice if they become aware of indications that an individual or group may be planning to resort to violence.

Other members of this House have detailed the horrific cases of antisemitism that have been seen in the last week. They are shocking and they are wrong. But I also want to condemn white supremacists and Neo-Nazis who have committed acts of cowardice and bastardry before and after the recent outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, because my community are already talking about the Islamophobia that they're interacting with in the broader community in Melbourne. Just as antisemitism has no place in our country, neither does Islamophobia, abusing women in hijabs through verbal attacks nor denying girls in a hijab an Uber ride.

Australia prides itself on being the most successful multicultural nation on earth. I represent a community that is living that every day, and I want to say to the people in my community: we have a cohesive community. We can have these conversations, but we have to have them respectfully. In times of conflict, what we need to do here in Australia is to be the voice of reason. To be that voice of reason on the world stage, we need to be that voice of reason at home, around our kitchen tables and in our classrooms. I want to send a message to all the teachers in classrooms across my community, because these issues will be live in those classrooms. Unlike some opposite, I don't want to see footage. I don't want to hear details about atrocities—maybe it's because I'm a woman—because it hurts me too deeply. I want to ask teachers to be careful in their classrooms, to monitor the conversations that are happening about this conflict and to monitor closely to ensure that children aren't sharing details or footage of violent atrocities with one another. I want to ensure that they are in a safe space where conversations about this conflict, if they are happening, are done in respectful ways.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with my parliamentary colleagues in my unreserved condemnation of the attacks on southern Israel by Hamas. These are brutal acts by people who have completely lost all sense of humanity. What we've seen reported out of southern Israel has been horrific and shocking. It brings emotions of anger and sadness to think that civilians can be targeted in such a way and that innocent children can be treated with such inhumanity and barbarity. It's really difficult to put into words what type of response any decent person would have to such an attack.

It's so difficult to see hatred and intolerance flourish in any part of the world. In times like this I try to look back to my own community. The previous speaker talked about a successful example of multiculturalism, and the electorate of Nicholls is certainly that. I would like to share with the parliament something that happened last week, a vigil at the St Brendan's Catholic Church in Shepparton, which is my hometown in the centre of the electorate of Nicholls. At the vigil people from all different religions came together to pray and to reflect on what was happening in Israel. I was fortunate enough to speak, as were other members of parliament. The two people who organised it and the people who spoke were young people driven by faith and driven by a sense of wanting to see peace in their community. One of them was the new Catholic parish priest in Shepparton, Father Jackson Saunders, and the other was his friend and the new imam of the Albanian mosque in Shepparton, Imam Hysni Merja. The Albanian mosque was built in 1960, and it's a part of our community.

These are young people driven by faith to come together. They're from different religious traditions and faiths, but they prayed in their own way together for peace. It was a bright moment in what was a very dark week. I was asked to speak, and, as I said earlier, it's difficult to find the words to talk about such barbarity. I tried to go back to the values that I expressed in my maiden speech, which were that we seem to do better as a society when we celebrate each other's culture but moreover focus on our shared humanity, the humanity being a stronger bond than any differences that seek to be amplified by race, ethnicity, gender or religion. The way that the Goulburn Valley does that and that many other parts of Australia do that means that our humanity is strong and our connection is strong.

It's so shameful to see that connection breaking down in other parts of Australia. Some of the chants that I heard on the steps of the Sydney Opera House were an absolute disgrace, and those people making them are unAustralian. We have to call that out continually because that is not the Australia that we want. We have to hold onto our humanity, and there are examples of that in the Goulburn Valley, in my electorate of Nicholl.

I have connections with Israel. Before coming into this place, I worked as an agronomist or agricultural scientist with a water company called Netafim. I visited Sderot, which is one of the towns that was most affected by this unspeakable brutality. There are other southern kibbutzim and towns that have been affected, including a Hatzerim, a kibbutz near Bathsheba which has the Netafim factory. I'll just reflect that these kibbutzim sustain themselves by world-leading water technology, mostly for agriculture, which is what I was involved in. They are sustained by this aspiration for technology to give life to communities throughout the world. There are obviously examples of this Israeli technology not only in Australia but in Africa, Asia, North and South America and Europe. It helps efficiently and with reverence to the environment to grow more food for people, which is life. That's life, and, for people working on such life-giving technology and devoting their lives to making sure that the globe has enough food to be attacked by people who have this obsession with death, makes it even harder to bear. My own experiences and my friendships and people who I'm still in contact with who I used to work with are going through a terrible time as a result.

The depravity and evil of Hamas knows no bounds, it would seem, with what they have done by taking hostages, including children, back into Gaza and by what they're doing by using the innocent civilians of Palestine, as it would seem, as human shields. There's going to be a great deal of tragedy in the coming weeks and months. We need to acknowledge that too. We absolutely need to acknowledge that too. I think it's incredibly cowardly to use children and innocent civilians as cover for your own hateful, violent ways. I'm so regretful that there wasn't leadership in that particular Palestinian territory that didn't look at some of the other societies around the world that have flourished with economic activity, education, community and society. Gaza could have been that, but Hamas wouldn't allow it. So I join, as I said at the beginning of this, with my parliamentary colleagues in condemning this.

Let's just focus on what makes Australia a great community, like the Imam from the Albanian mosque, Father Jackson from the Catholic Church and other faith leaders at that event. I single them out because they're young men who are hopefully going to be in our community for their lives, spreading messages of peace with communities of different faiths coming together. Let's focus on what we have here; let's condemn the hatred and barbarity we see around the world and reflect on what we do in this country.

We have arguments in this place, but we've got a great democracy and we've got a great social fabric. But that has to be fought for. As part of the fight for it, you've got to call out evil when you see it and you've got to call out hatred and intolerance when you see it. We saw it in Sydney, regretfully, and I called that out as well as condemning the evil attacks of Hamas on the south of Israel.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everyone who's spoken on this motion has spoken with incredibly moving words. For me this is a very important subject. I'm Jewish. I can trace my ancestry in this country on both sides back many generations. I don't have many Holocaust survivors or their descendants in my family. Some of my relatives came out here as convicts. They've contributed to Australia in many ways. I've always been proud to call myself Jewish. One of my grandfathers founded the Emanuel temple in Woollahra in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. My ancestor, Abraham Rubin, founded the first permanent synagogue in Australia—one that is still functioning in Hobart. It's been there for hundreds of years. We are proud of our history in this country.

As a child growing up, Israel was a country that we as a Jewish family were proud of. It was the one place in the world where Jewish people from all corners could seek sanctuary. Australia had a large part in the founding of Israel, through Doc Evatt, who was later to be Labor leader.

Last Tuesday I attended a vigil with the Jewish community in Sydney. Many people spoke, and they all spoke very meaningfully and very movingly. The most moving part was the recitation of the prayers for the dead by Rabbi Ben Elton because that brought home the horrors that have been forced upon Israel by Hamas, the most evil of terrorist organisations. It brought home the children that had died, ripped from their families' arms, the young mothers, the grandmothers, the fathers and the young people ambushed at, of all things, a music festival. It brought home the horrors that Hamas had visited upon Israel. The prayers for the dead brought that home.

These are children and young adults who will never fulfil their potential and fathers who will never see their children grow up or see their grandchildren. Those horrors were inflicted upon people who were going about their lives peacefully. These were not army veterans. These were not fighters. These were everyday people like you and me, gunned down without any way to protect themselves. It's absolutely horrible. Hamas have opened the gates of hell, which was their intention. This was clearly planned. Clearly this was a way of getting Israel to react, and, unfortunately, it will lead to the further deaths of innocent people—Jews, Palestinians and others—in the most horrible, horrible way. I congratulate our Prime Minister for his response and the New South Wales Premier for his response as well and all decent people responding to support Israel's right to exist.

I am not particularly religious, but it seems to me that what Hamas has done has broken every moral rule that we can live by. As I've said, my family have lived in this country for many generations, and what happened on the footsteps of the Opera House in Sydney recently, where people were chanting, 'Death to the Jews,' and, 'Gas the Jews,' is something that I never thought I would ever see in this country. It's something that I am, as a Sydneysider, deeply ashamed of, and I hope the people that were responsible for that are brought to justice.

As a paediatrician, I have treated children of every colour and every creed. The one thing I never ask people is their religion. It has nothing to do with any medical treatment, and I have always treated people equally, as they have treated me. I've looked after Muslim families, Buddhist families, Jewish families, Catholic families and others and treated them the same. That is why I can also grieve for the many innocent Palestinians who are going to lose their lives in this conflagration, and that's what it is. It is very hard to see an end to it.

Whilst I've always believed that peace is possible, as we did eventually see peace in Northern Ireland, it is very hard to see the road to peace from now, and it's important to understand that, whilst Hamas does not represent even the majority of the Palestinians, what they have done has been deliberate. They have destroyed any chance of peace—certainly, in the near future—and they have also opened the Israel-Palestine conflict to a wider audience. I hope very much that we don't see the further involvement of Iran or of Hezbollah in Lebanon, although I think that is very likely. This is going to be a conflict that will not have any short-term ending.

Israel has a right to exist—I have believed that as long as I have been alive—and Israel has the right to protect itself. People will die and children will die, in all likelihood, and that is just abhorrent to me. I hope that some way can be found to end this conflict as soon as possible, and I hope that the number of people who die will be kept to an absolute minimum. I grieve for every one of them. I grieve for all the families that have lost people in this conflict already—Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, Thais, Germans and Australians. This is an act of complete evil by an evil group, and what they have done has the potential to cause many thousands more deaths.

Israel will protect itself, but we also need to understand that in this conflict the Palestinians will be victims just as much as the Israelis. It is very important that Australia does what it can to support the refugees—to support people in Israel and in Palestine—and through the United Nations helps to bring this conflict to an end as soon as possible. I grieve for all those people; I grieve for the families, I grieve for the loss for the chance of peace and I grieve for the trauma that many people, particularly in the Jewish and Palestinian communities in Australia, are going through. I have always been a strong supporter of Israel, although I don't support all the actions of the Israeli government. It's important that Israel is allowed to defend itself, but I just hope that this conflict can be brought to an end with minimal further loss of life. I know the particular hell that the families who have members who are hostages must be going through. I hope that we can do all we can to help those hostages to be released unharmed.

What the Australian government has done is very important, and I congratulate the Prime Minister on his actions. But I fear that this is a conflict which may continue for some time.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the dying days of the Second World War, the senior leadership of the Schutzstaffel, or the SS, from Himmler down, attempted to conceal the evidence of the Holocaust—their crimes and the murders of six million Jewish people throughout the parts of Europe that they had conquered. They exhumed bodies to incinerate them so that the evidence of the bodies would not exist. They attempted to destroy the crematoriums and the gas chambers at certain sites of the concentration camps, because they knew that what they had done would bring upon them, and a war they were about to lose, enormous consequences.

We never thought that we could talk about a category of people that have a lower moral code than the Nazis, and yet that is what we're dealing with with Hamas. Hamas would say to the Nazis, 'Why aren't you proud of the six million Jews that you killed?' The attitude of Hamas would be to celebrate the killing and the attempt to exterminate an entire race of people. So we have a situation where an awful terrorist attack has been committed against innocent people, and, regrettably, it is couched in the circumstance of ongoing antisemitism on a scale that I had hoped—and believed—was no longer present in the modern world.

As a teenager I visited the Dachau concentration camp with my father. I think I was about 17 or 18 years old. If you have ever visited a concentration camp, you will know that it is a life-changing experience. It was probably the most significant and important as well as the most poignant part of my education and awakening and awareness of the world—what the world was and what humanity could be at its worst. One of the takeaways of that experience was that at least that happened so long ago and at least the lesson of the Holocaust was so significant that humanity would never even countenance the concept of anything similar to that ever again. Then, in 2023, in my own country that I love, I see Australians protesting and chanting things like, 'Gas the Jews.' I hear Australians calling for another Holocaust, Australians calling for a genocide and Australians celebrating the death of people because of their faith and religion, particularly celebrating the fact that Jews have been killed in a terrorist attack undertaken by one of the most vile and disgraceful organisations on the planet—as I say, one with a lower moral code than that of the Schutzstaffel, which at least tried to conceal its murder of the Jews. We have Hamas talking about promoting, publishing and filming the execution of Jews—people who have been kidnapped who are currently alive. They plan to take their lives, and promote it, publicise it, celebrate it and cheer for it.

Chanting 'Gas the Jews' was one of the lowest things I've ever seen in this country until, regrettably, this morning when I saw the behaviour of the Australian Greens in response to a motion related to the condemnation of a terrorist attack against innocent civilians. I've served in this parliament for a little over four years and, to be honest, I could be convinced of a lot of things that it would surprise me could happen in this chamber. That we in this chamber would come together as a parliament to condemn terrorism and that someone elected to serve in the House of Representatives would seek to amend that condemnation in any way—to qualify it—and then proceed to vote against that motion of condemnation of a terrorist atrocity that has killed already more than 1,200 people is absolutely shameful.

Let's just note that there was an attempt by the Greens to remove this statement from that motion: 'That this House stands with Israel and recognises its inherent right to defend itself.' According to the Australian Greens, they don't support that. Let's reflect on that as a principle. What the Greens are saying is that, if this country were the victim of a terrorist attack and 1,200 Australians were killed in that terrorist attack, it would be the position of the Australian Greens that this country, this government and the defence forces of this nation should have no response to that. Holding that view is absolutely treasonous. For people to think that they can serve in the House of Representatives and take a position in this parliament effectively condoning terrorist activity, condoning murder, and refusing to support a motion that should, beyond question, have had the complete unanimity of this chamber, on a question of complete moral clarity—the murder of innocent people, and the right for a sovereign nation to defend itself from its citizens being murdered—is utterly appalling.

I'm ashamed of the conduct of the people that voted against the motion in this chamber today. I never believed for a second, given the great pride and honour I have in serving in the House of Representatives of the Australian parliament, that I would ever feel a sense of shame because of the conduct of fellow members of this chamber—the position the Greens party took this morning.

My heart goes out to my Jewish constituents and all Jewish Australians who are touched personally and directly by this. There are so many Australians who have relatives, family members and loved ones that have been victims, either murdered or kidnapped, and countless others who have family in Israel, some of whom are serving in the Israeli defence force. Anyone in Israel right now is living in fear of potentially falling victim to further terrorist atrocities. I equally feel for my constituents of Palestinian heritage who have innocent family members that may be at risk of or have already succumbed to something that is entirely the responsibility of the Hamas terrorist organisation. The perverseness of these people is that, as it stands, the actions of Hamas have currently resulted so far in the death of more Palestinian people than Israeli people. That is the moral code of these butchers and their bloodlust.

We as a nation have to be united, strident and utterly uncompromising when it comes to condemning what has happened. We all want peace. I despair for what the future holds, as other speakers have pointed out. But this conflict is only going to escalate, and it all started with the actions of one of the most evil organisations to ever exist on the face of the planet. I lament the setback for peace. But Hamas do not want peace. They want the complete destruction of every Jewish person, as they chant, from the river to the sea.

I express my deepest condolences to everyone that has been touched by this. Any of us that have families and loved ones think in horror about what happened to those poor, innocent victims and imagine if that had happened to our own families and loved ones.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I offer my deepest condolences and sympathies to those Australians who have relatives in Israel who have been subject to this horrific violence or who are currently being held hostage. We offer our prayers to those who are held hostage and call for their immediate release.

I wholeheartedly condemn Hamas's acts of pure evil from a terrorist organisation. I stand with the people of Israel. The Albanese government stands with the people of Israel during this difficult period. We certainly recognise that Israel has the right to defend itself and its people during this bloody conflict.

As soon as we heard the news of the Hamas attack on the Israeli people, the Prime Minister called the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Our foreign minister spoke to the Israeli foreign minister and our defence minister spoke to the Israeli ambassador and offered the support of the Australian people and the assistance of the Australian government to the people of Israel during this difficult period. Today the Prime Minister outlined the support that is being provided by the Australian government, both the logistical support and the humanitarian support that will flow in the coming days.

I'm very proud to represent a community that has a wonderful Jewish population. They are great Australian citizens who contribute to the community that we're fortunate to live in. On Friday evening I spent time at Mount Sinai, the Maroubra shule and the Coogee shule to express my support and solidarity with Jewish members of our community and the people of Israel. On Saturday, I was with the Hakoah football club prior to their game at Heffron Park, again to express my support for Jewish members of our community. I want them to know that I stand with them and that the Australian government stands with them during this difficult time. I also recognise that, unfortunately, many members of Australia's Jewish community have been the subject of some horrific and shocking antisemitic behaviour over the past week. Such behaviour stands condemned. There is no place—no place at all at any time—for antisemitism here in Australia.

Australia prides itself on being a proudly multicultural nation, a nation that has made a success of multiculturalism because of a culture of respect, diversity and understanding of people of different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. We celebrate the fact that in our homes we speak about 200 different languages, we boast about 180 different ancestries and we practise many different religions and theologies, but we do so in an environment of peace, respect and goodwill. That is what characterises Australia. That is part of the fabric of our nation. Over the past week, that multiculturalism has been tested. All Australians have an obligation to uphold those values of respect and inclusivity in Australian society.

The Australian government is doing all it can to ensure that Australians who are in Israel and surrounding territories and wish to return home get the support they need to do that. A number of repatriation flights have occurred or are occurring as we speak. The Australian Defence Force has deployed a number of planes to transport people out of flashpoint areas and potential conflict zones, and Qantas, of course, is assisting with that repatriation. I encourage any Australians who have loved ones who are still in the area and wish to return home to contact Smartraveller and the Department of Foreign Affairs as soon as possible to get information regarding those repatriation flights. The government will continue to provide that support for as long as it is needed to get Australians and their loved ones home as quickly as possible.

Many Australians have been affected by this issue over the course of the last week, and I implore all members of the community that I represent and wider Australia to remember the success that we've made of multiculturalism and remember what a virtue that is for our nation. Remain respectful of people of diverse backgrounds at all times. Any violence will be condemned and anyone undertaking violence will be prosecuted under Australian law. Now is not the time for division and hate. Now is the time for unity and respect. We call on all Australians to show that respect for each other during this difficult period and to look out for family, friends, loved ones and those of different cultures and faiths. Particularly, we express our support and our love for members of Australia's Jewish community during this difficult time. I, again, offer the support of my office in the community that I represent and am very proud to continue to work with the Jewish community in the area of Kingsford-Smith.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Flectere si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo. What precisely does that mean? In a very brief summary, it means: if you can't affect heaven, affect hell—change hell—with 'Acheron' being the river, like the River Styx, which Charon carried people across to take them to the underworld. You've got to concentrate on affecting heaven. You've got to concentrate on the process of abiding by your higher angels, abiding by the better instincts, abiding by the mechanism of dispute in a form that is not this ritualistic, nihilistic, outrageous appropriation that we saw Hamas, a terrorist organisation—I was Deputy Chair of the National Security Committee when we made it a terrorist organisation—partake in the other day. This achieves nothing except retribution. It achieves nothing except retribution. In that retribution, unfortunately, innocent people will be killed. That becomes yet another profanity on top of what Hamas did.

When you think about it, who gave the order to behead children? Who was the commanding officer who decided that was an appropriate order to give? Who was the commanding officer who decided an appropriate order was to murder people at a dance festival—youths, people in their early 20s, celebrating peace, basically your greatest advocates to try and move an agenda forward? Who gave that order? Who is it that evil man? Who is that evil person who decided to do that? Who was the commanding officer who said, 'You must murder parents. You must shoot them as they protect their babies.' Who was the evil man who gave that order? Who is that person? Evil, where do you reside? Where do you reside? Why do you wake up and decide that that is the purpose of your life—this outrage? Who was the evil man who said it was appropriate to murder a woman and then have other people spit on her dead body and parade it through Gaza? Who was that evil man? To what fathomless depth could a person, a human being, decide that that was appropriate? Why do that? Who was the evil person who said, 'Kidnap people. Kidnap them. Bring them back across the border, and then, at a time, we will murder them and put it on social media'? This is an outrage.

What happens when you sow that seed, Hamas? What happens? You reap the wind. Now, it is unfortunate—not every Palestinian is in Hamas, but every Palestinian is going to be affected by this. There are people now, innocent people, who are going to be killed. A bomb will drop on a house. A family will die. Children will die. War is an outrageous, disgusting thing. I can say that, as a former serving member of the Australian Defence Force. We serve because we don't want wars, not because we do. Yet these evil men have decided to bring this to fruition.

The thing about evil is that you never know where it ends. It is the ultimate Pandora's box, isn't it? You open the box and you don't know what happens next. We don't know what the next step is. We know what is happening. We know that the US are moving aircraft carriers closer to the coast. We know that Hezbollah are in the Bekaa Valley and are trying to open up a second front. We know the Iranians are now planning—does Hamas honestly believe that this will help the Palestinian people? Does Hamas honestly believe that this is a better outcome for the people in the Gaza Strip and the people in the West Bank? Do they understand the retribution and the dragons and the filth that is war that they have now launched on innocent people?

So what do we do next? What do we do next? How do we do this? We can't possibly condone what Hamas did. They force us into one position, which is to say, 'You are evil people, you have done an evil act, and consequences must flow from this.' But we hope that this issue is resolved, which means finalised, which means that the appropriate outcome is reached, which means that the structure of this evil organisation that is Hamas is disassembled. But we hope and we pray that this happens with the least amount of innocent lives lost from this point forward. And I'm not alone in that. That's also Secretary Blinken's position—the least amount of innocent lives lost. When you have good people, and 99.9 per cent of the world are good people, and you put them in the same room, a Palestinian and a Jew—they're decent people—do you know what? They'll talk to each other.

In my own life, I've had strong connections—besides being very sympathetic to Palestine, very sympathetic. On the Northern Ireland issue, which is on another side of my family, from talking to people in Northern Ireland about what happened in Northern Ireland and trying to be involved in that discussion, the wisest thing that was said to me was by a cousin. He said, 'Yes, there are issues here, but it is not worth one drop of human blood, and people who kill people, Barnaby, are criminals.' And isn't it a beautiful thing that that greater angel, that better angel, rises above the filth and says, 'Just treat human beings with dignity; just be a better person'?

In closing, please do not bring your rubbish into this great egalitarian nation. You are absolutely within your rights to raise concerns that you may have on certain issues—100 per cent within your rights to raise concerns that you may have. But you have no right to vomit out this filth that we have heard. That is not Australia. When you come to Australia, no matter how many generations you may have been here, as part of this nation you sign a contract that you will abide by the egalitarian principles of this nation: 'I will participate in the debate, but I will treat with respect even a person who has the opposite opinion to me. I will respect their humanity. I will respect their equivalence. I will respect their right to live.' I was so disturbed by some of the issues that have come to the fore with this.

So I hope and pray that innocent people are not killed. I hope and pray that the criminality which is Hamas is dealt with expediently and quickly without the unnecessary loss of other lives. And I hope and pray that the egalitarian nation of Australia is never adulterated.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last week we have seen the most devastating loss of innocent life in Israel and in the Palestinian occupied territories, and the most horrific stories and images coming out of the Israel-Hamas conflict. These are images we can't ignore in and of themselves and, of course, in terms of their impact on many members of the Australian community. Innocent Israelis, and Palestinians too, have suffered and will continue to suffer unspeakable atrocities, and I condemn unequivocally the abhorrent terrorist atrocities committed last week by Hamas. My thoughts are with those killed or injured and of course with those who are in mourning too.

Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people; indeed, it undermines Palestinian needs and aspirations. What happened on 7 October was an attack on the values shared by democratic and peaceful nations, including Australia. Such acts of terror are an affront to everything that Australians hold dear. A vicious cycle of violence now threatens to consume an entire region, ruining the lives of millions more innocent Israelis and innocent Palestinians alike. We can't stand by. I note the announcement by the Prime Minister that Australia will provide an initial $10 million in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by this conflict, with $3 million going to the International Commission of the Red Cross to fund urgent needs, like restoring essential services and providing medical support. Through UN agencies, another $7 million will deliver critical support, like emergency water, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene services, as well as child protection.

Right now, closer to home, we recognise that emotions are raw. There will be many Australians who are deeply affected by this conflict and horrified by the conditions faced by those in affected areas. Many have friends or family in Israel or in Gaza. Many are scared and concerned for the future of family and friends in their homes in the region. Those who have returned or who will return from the affected areas will need help and support. I am proud of the efforts of my department in helping to facilitate the departure of around 1,200 Australians and their families from Israel, principally, and also from the occupied Palestinian territories. Work is underway to seek assistance for those Australians currently in Gaza; the foreign minister is working closely with international partners to try to secure safe passage.

More broadly, it's more important now than ever before that the community stays in touch with loved ones and support services. And it's more important now than ever before that Australians support each other. In times of crisis, the Australian community is at its very best when we come together. I see my role and responsibility as working to reinforce these best angels in our communities. I recognise the support that our diverse communities provide to each other through times of adversity as one of our greatest strengths. I recognise too that we are a great multicultural nation—a nation of diversity but also of inclusion. Of course, it's common for those in this place to say that we have built the world's most successful multicultural society—and I agree. People of different faiths, languages and ethnicities have come to know Australia as a place where everyone belongs, where people can live alongside each other in peace and harmony. But we can't take this for granted; recent events have shown us this. Everyone in this country must feel safe and they must feel free to express who they are.

In that light, of course, we respect the right of anyone to protest peacefully, but violence and hate will not be tolerated—ever. Words matter; there is no place in this country or in society for hate or prejudice of any kind. There's no place for antisemitism, there's no place for Islamophobia and there's no place for racism. At times like these we should work to draw on our strengths as a multicultural society in a country where everyone belongs. We should work to be united and we should not let those who seek to divide us do us harm.

We should not let those who seek to divide us do us all harm. As our security agency said last week—and this bears repeating—it's important that all of us 'consider the implications for social cohesion when making public statements'. Words matter. As a government, and I hope as a parliament, we're all working hard to strengthen social cohesion across the country. That's where my focus is right now. Firstly, by working closely with our multicultural interfaith groups, listening with intent— (Time expired)