Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We live in a world that is growing increasingly polarised, with contested spaces and ideas preventing us from finding our common humanity. While the threads of our common humanity are fraying, there is a strand that remains strong: our collective belief that innocent children must be protected. We extend that protection to the children in Ukraine experiencing the devastating consequences of war. We extend that protection to the children of Sudan and Yemen, who have witnessed protracted civil conflict and famine. And we must extend our protection to the children of Gaza. What is happening to them is wrong. As the conflict in Gaza drags on into its seventh month, we cannot turn away from the devastating consequences this conflict has had on an entire generation of innocent Palestinian children.

At the end of March, I received a briefing from UNICEF, the humanitarian aid organisation providing assistance to children in Gaza. I wanted to find out what the situation was like for children on the ground. The picture they painted was horrifying. Of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed in this conflict, 70 per cent were women and children. More than 1,000 children have lost limbs, and one in six children are acutely malnourished. Those figures have only gotten worse. We cannot turn our backs on the children in Gaza, because they are the ones paying the heaviest price for Hamas's terrorist attack on 7 October.

We must find our common humanity to demand that the Israeli government protect the innocent Palestinian children and civilians. We must also find our common humanity to demand that Hamas release the Israeli civilians currently being held hostage. In the next sitting week, I have organised a briefing from UNICEF for all parliamentarians in this place, so that they too can get a better understanding of the tragic impact this conflict is having on children in Gaza. The Australian government continues to press for a humanitarian ceasefire, because this conflict must end.

However, there is only one end to this conflict that allows both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security, and that is with a two-state solution. Australia voted for expanded Palestinian participation in the United Nations. This vote, and the pressing for a two-state solution, is a clear repudiation of the goals of Hamas. Hamas has already stated that they do not want a two-state solution. We must find our common humanity in the Middle East and we must hold on to our common humanity here at home, too. Sadly, antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise, and there is a role for us all to play to promote social cohesion and harmony, not division.