Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I would also appreciate from the whips who it was who denied leave. I understand it was actually Labor, but I would appreciate some clarification.

This is not a complex foreign policy matter. I find it breathtaking that formality has been denied to take a vote that asks nothing of anybody except the expression of this Senate in support of international law that hospitals are not military targets. How on earth has that become controversial? That should be an absolutely unanimous resolution of this Senate. The protection of health facilities and other civilian targets in international law, including the Geneva Conventions, should be uncontroversial. It should not be something that we even need to raise in here. Seventy-five MSF hospitals and supported hospitals suffered 106 bombing and shell attacks in 2015 alone. Please rethink this. I do not understand why leave has been denied for a simple, unanimous Senate resolution on this crucial question.