Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Any reasonable observer of the proceedings this afternoon in the Senate could well ask: is that the view of the coalition? Is the view that there should be no engagement with the Palestinians, even the Palestinian Authority, now the view of the coalition in Australia? Is the view they have taken that the Palestinian Authority—not Hamas, not Gaza, but Ramallah—should be dismissed? That way lies no prospect of a two-state solution.

He is bewildered by the notion of observer status. The resolution before the Senate would lift the status of the Palestinian delegation from 'other entity' to 'observer status'.