Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As co-sponsor with Senator Milne, I indicate my disappointment that we cannot have a vote on this motion. I refer to what Professor Ben Saul, Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney, has stated:

Australia’s new view is starkly at odds with the true status of east Jerusalem under international law.

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It also corrodes the international rule of law and violates Australia’s international law obligations.

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The term 'occupation' is therefore not pejorative or judgmental. It is an objective legal description of Israel’s physical control of a place beyond Israel’s borders at independence in 1948.

I also refer honourable senators to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 2004 which confirmed that territory can be occupied even if there is an underlying dispute about sovereign ownership of that territory. I believe the Australian government has made a mistake in going down this course and I regret that we cannot vote on this motion.