Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Wong. Minister, yesterday in relation to the war in Gaza that was caused by the vicious and deadly terrorist attacks of 7 October by Hamas against Israel, you stated, 'We all want to take the next steps towards a ceasefire.' In contrast, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, 'A ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on 7 October.' And British Labor leader Keir Starmer said, 'A ceasefire now will only freeze this conflict and would leave hostages in Gaza and Hamas with the infrastructure and capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on 7 October.' Minister, how is your statement consistent with the position of Australia's closest allies and partners?