Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Griffith moving the following motion—That the House:

(1) notes:

(a) the recent opinion of the International Court of Justice that the State of Israel's occupation is illegal and that Israel is responsible for apartheid;

(b) the widespread allegations of torture and sexual abuse against Palestinian prisoners in Israel's prisons and detention centres, including from the UN Human Rights Office and B'Tselem;

(c) statements from Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Likud Member of the Knesset Hanoch Milwidsky that support the legitimacy of the rape of Palestinian prisoners;

(d) the recent statement by Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the starving of 2 million Palestinians 'might be justified and moral';

(e) Israel's systematic bombing of water and sewerage treatment facilities has reduced water supply in Gaza to about a quarter of what it was pre the war, and has contributed to the re-emergence of polio in Gaza, which causes paralysis and death in children; and

(f) the continuing genocide and war crimes in Gaza including the widescale deaths and injuries caused by the State of Israel's bombings and other attacks; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) sanction the State of Israel and members of the extremist Netanyahu Government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich; and

(b) end two way arms trade with the State of Israel including the F35 parts manufactured in Australia and used in the State of Israel's fighter jets

How many atrocities does Israel have to commit before this government will take action? How many children does it have to kill before it will place sanctions on the State of Israel?How many schools does Israel have to bomb before Labor will end two-way arms trade with Israel and stop the export of F-35 parts that are in Israeli jets currently committing atrocities in Gaza?

We know now that the official death toll in Gaza is over 40,000. Over 70 per cent of those are women and children. We hear these numbers a lot, but what we don't often do is think about the human consequences and stories behind these deaths and the horrific nature of them. As I read these out, I want people to think, when these atrocities are being committed at a deliberate and systematic scale—a genocide is being carried out in Gaza right now—why is it, then, that the Australian government and the Labor Party won't end two-way arms trade with Israel or, just like they sanctioned Russia, sanction the State of Israel?

Let's talk about Muhammed Bhar, one of the children killed by Israel. Muhammed Bhar had Down syndrome and autism. He was attacked by a combat dog when Israeli soldiers raided his family's home in Gaza. His mother said: 'Muhammed was pleading with the dog while it was attacking him. He said, "Enough, habibi, enough."' Habibi translates as 'my love'. The soldiers put Muhammed in another room and forced his family to leave their home without him. When they returned a few days later, he was dead.

Things like this are happening every day in Gaza right now. It's every day, at a systematic scale, and it has been admitted by Israeli ministers that this is their goal. What does this government do? Nothing. How many horrors have to occur? Is there a number that this government is looking at? Is there a number of kids that have to be murdered by the State of Israel before this government will take action?

Let's talk about another one. What about three-year-old Emad Abu al-Qura? He was killed outside his home when he went to buy fruit with his cousin. He was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. Has cousin was also shot and killed. In fact, what we know is that, since October 7, 115 infants, newborn babies, have been born and then killed and 564 schools have been either partially damaged or destroyed as Israel has deliberately targeted them and bombed them.

What will it take? The gall of this government is that, whenever they face criticism about their complicity in this genocide going on in Gaza right now, they talk about social cohesion. You know, people have eyes. They see what's going on in Gaza. The reason that people are upset is that they see stories like this and then they look to their government to show some moral leadership, to show some international leadership. When they've seen this government take out over 1,000 autonomous sanctions against Russia for their illegal invasion of Ukraine, they then look and expect them to do something: 'Well, surely any government with any sense of morality, any sense of justice or any sense of humanity would turn around and do the same thing to the State of Israel and sanction the State of Israel.' But apparently not.

The reality is this—this is what we know: every time that the State of Israel commits an atrocity like that or carries out a bombing of a school or a hospital and then they look around the world to countries like Australia, who does nothing, Israel is emboldened to keep acting. We have a situation right now where polio has re-emerged in Gaza. Just think about the devastating impacts that will have on Gazan children. Do their lives not matter? There are a lot of Australians right now who think that they should be proud of this country. One way of being proud of this country is to have a government that says, 'No more,' when we see atrocities like this. We say, 'No more,' and we take action. Muhammed Bhar's last hours were spent scared and alone, bleeding and dying to death—as he couldn't even die in the arms of his family—and he is just one of the over 15,000 Palestinian children who have been murdered by Israel.

What is this about? Genuinely, why is it that the Australian government cannot take a single action against the State of Israel? Why is it that this Australian government, which has signed a $917 million defence contract with Elbit Systems—an Israeli weapons company that has been blacklisted by other countries around the world for war crimes committed with their weapons in the Occupied Palestinian Territories—can't even cancel that contract? Why is that they can't follow the Netherlands and ban the export of F-35 parts going into Israeli jets? Why is it that they can't take sanctions?

Is it, perhaps, their slavish loyalty to the United States? When will this country and its government learn, whether it be Labor or Liberal? By the way, the Liberal Party never reckoned with their disastrous invasion of Iraq. What is it? Iraq, Afghanistan—how many times do we have to follow slavishly into a war backed by the United States? Look at the consequences: the millions dead. The reality is that it makes the world less safe. Australia backed the US invasion of Afghanistan, apparently to get rid of the Taliban. What did we end up with, after 20 years, hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of deaths? The Taliban. They're still there. What happened when Australia backed the invasion of Iraq, which some estimates said led to a million dead? What did we end up with? ISIS. Good on you, guys! It worked out real well! Great stuff! There is a lack of seriousness and a lack of intellectual capacity on either side of this House to deal with the consequences of a foreign policy that this country backs and that leads to the deaths and suffering of millions of people. What will it take?

The message that a lot of people hear from this government—when you compare what's going on and the sanctions they've imposed against Russia and the sanctions that they refuse to impose against the State of Israel— is that somehow Palestinian lives matter less. You know what? That view is not representative of the people in the community, because people in the community and across Australia have a different view. They see when our country has a responsibility—a responsibility created by the fact that this country is engaged in a two-way arms trade with the State of Israel as it carries out a genocide, and a responsibility that says this is a country that's part of the international community. That responsibility warrants actions, and, where this government does not take actions, that creates a complicity in the actions that the State of Israel is carrying out. At the end of the day—

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the hostages?

Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Shut up.

Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take those objections, because of the lack of humanity in this House. What about Muhammed Bhar, who had autism and Down syndrome, left to die—not even with his family? Oh, great! You talk about the deaths on October 7, which the Greens have condemned and which are disgraceful, but that does not justify the deaths of 15,000 children. That does not justify the deaths of men, women and children. Unnecessary deaths can only create less— (Time expired)

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second this motion. Action—that's what people want from their government. When we witness a genocide, starvation, destruction of people's lives, the re-emergence of polio and a court saying that the State of Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, people want their own government to take action. Enough of the hand-wringing words. Enough of the pleas and the supposed red lines that the extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu then crosses every time without consequences. People want action.

There are things that this government could do to put pressure on the extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the slaughter and the genocide, but Labor is refusing to do them. Governments were more than willing, with the support of everyone across the parliament, to put sanctions on Russia when it committed its illegal invasion. Since the parliament was here last time—when everyone else, certainly on the Labor side and on the Liberal side, voted against the recognition of Palestine, despite it being something that Labor said they would make a priority—we have had international courts say the crime of apartheid is being committed; we have seen ministers in the government say that the starvation of two million Palestinians might be justified and moral; and we have seen the re-emergence of polio. Not only are there the tens of thousands of deaths but we now have the re-emergence of polio. We are on the verge of epidemics that will see a whole generation of children being forced to live a life that we as humanity thought we had left behind us. They are now going to be facing diseases that we know are preventable but that we are now seeing reappear. Not only are we seeing that; we are seeing kids die because they can't get enough to eat or drink.

This is happening on a daily basis, and people want their governments to take action. We have been seeing voices right across the spectrum since we were last here. I want to pay tribute to those brave voices, including those brave and heroic voices from the Jewish community, who are saying this extremist Netanyahu government is committing war crimes. As they lend their voices not only to everyone across this parliament who is calling for the release of hostages but to those who are calling on this government to recognise that the extremist Netanyahu government has crossed lines time and time again, they are saying, like millions of people across this country, that it is the time for the government to take action.

It has been said that the words are too strong when the Greens say that Labor is complicit in genocide. Well, no, because these international treaties that we have signed up to require governments to stand up and take action when they see war crimes being committed. There is no supranational police force that is going to step in and stop governments like the extremist Netanyahu government from committing war crimes. These very treaties, like the treaty against committing genocide that Australia has signed up to, say that governments like this Labor government are required to take action when they see war crimes being committed by others, and there's a reason for that. It's because if Labor keeps letting Netanyahu's extremist government commit these war crimes then more and more will be committed. These treaties and conventions that we sign up to impose obligations on this government to take action when it sees war crimes being committed or when it sees the crime of apartheid being committed, and at the moment, when Labor does nothing, Labor is complicit. Labor is not meeting its legal or moral obligations under these treaties. It could also very simply say, as they have in the Netherlands, that it is wrong that Australian-made parts are being used in these F-35 fighter jets to drop bombs, and it won't even do that either.

So this is a chance for every member of parliament who voted against recognising Palestine before to come in now and vote to put some pressure to stop the genocide. (Time expired)

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak strongly against this motion. Where were the Greens on October 7? Where were the Greens when 1,200 innocent Israelis were killed? Have any members of the Greens been to Israel? Have they been to see the sights of the atrocities? Have they bothered to watch the 43-minute video? You don't have to go to Israel. Have you seen the 43-minute video? If you haven't, I encourage you to watch the 43-minute video.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask members to put their thoughts through the chair.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I encourage those members of the Greens to watch that 43-minute video, because it will enlighten them. I wish I hadn't seen it. I travelled to Israel in December, and in December I watched that video showing the absolute barbarity of those attacks—the absolute barbarity of Hamas, kitted up with rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons. And do you know what else they had? They had cameras, because they wanted to show the world what they were doing. Not only did they kill innocent Israelis; they killed women and children, beheading people. There was rape. Where were the Greens? It's 'me too' unless you're a Jew. Rape was used as a weapon of war.

Yet the Greens come in here and say nothing about what caused this war in the first place. What caused this war was the atrocities on 7 October. If Hamas wanted this war to be over, they could unconditionally surrender and hand back the more than 100 hostages who are still being held. Six hostages were discovered overnight—dead, killed. There are around about 105 or 106 hostages who are still remaining. We don't know whether they're alive or dead.

The unbelievable hypocrisy of the members of the Greens to come in and make these political statements, which are designed to try and get the media involved, and report, 'Look at what the Greens are doing.' Let me tell you, Greens—through you, Chair—you were once a party of environmentalists. Those same environmentalists are walking away from you in their droves because the Greens have become much more than environmentalists. They've abandoned that, and now what they are doing is effectively trying to become the major party on the left. Please, God, that will never happen. It will be bad enough if they form some sort of a coalition with the Labor Party, but at least the Labor Party is a party of government. They don't just come in and make ridiculous comments. The Greens will never, hopefully, have to serve in government.

I want to encourage the members of the Greens, before they do this stunt again, to travel to Israel and see what I've seen, to at the very least watch that 43-minute video of the atrocities that have occurred, and then continuously come out and condemn Hamas, condemn the violence and call on Hamas to unconditionally surrender and return each and every single one of the hostages. If they did that, this war could end today. Why don't they do it? I don't understand, and I don't pretend to understand what their motivations or their rationales are but it is not coming from a bona fide place. This House should condemn the Greens today.

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

I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

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

The question is that the debate be adjourned.