Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That's right, Senator O'Neill, the first voice. Then two years later we established the diplomatic relationships that we so cherish today. Our friendship is deep and it is enduring, and the Australian government recognises the unique security situation in and security needs of Israel. We recognise Israel's right to defend itself as it should.

The policies of the Albanese government are guided by the principle of advancing the call for peace and moving towards a two-state solution. While any change in language in this space rightly attracts a lot of attention and scrutiny, I would make the point that the language that was put forward by Minister Wong yesterday is not new, as Senator O'Neill made absolutely clear in her contribution. But let's also remember that back in 2018 then prime minister Scott Morrison also confirmed that Australia was subject to the United Nations Security Council resolutions that described the territory as illegally occupied. It is always important to go back in history, and if you go back further you can see this language used from the Fraser government all the way through to the Gillard government.

I also find interesting that somehow this issue concerning Palestine and Israel gets caught up in next week's national conference. Somehow there is a report out there from unnamed sources that the opposition want to play politics on this issue, rather than actually seriously talking about how we together can actually work to support that two-state solution peace process. We heard contributions from some on the crossbench describing Israel as an apartheid state. Disgraceful language is being used. But people need to understand that your actions can bring out the worst in some in this place and also in the community, and that is something we need to be very careful about. Those opposite want to play politics rather than working with the government of the day on how we can support our friends in Israel. Those opposite are coming in here using unnamed sources and so-called reporting of a conference. Maybe you need to look at yourselves and your own democratic processes around how your party organisation operates before you start throwing stones over the aisle.