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

The coalition does not support this week's repetitive weekly attempt by the Australian Greens in terms of bringing on a motion of this nature. We do not support it. Wars are tragic, wars are horrible and wars result in tragedy and the tragic loss of human lives. We mourn all of those lives. We mourn the lives of innocent civilians, be they Israelis, Palestinians or, as I have said before in response to the Greens' motions, those of innocent civilians in conflicts that continue right across the world that don't receive the same degree of attention and, indeed, don't receive the same degree of grandstanding from the Australian Greens.

Wars are fought for a variety of reasons, but often wars are fought between right and wrong, between interests that align with your values, and between interests that are evil and undermine those values. Let me be very clear: we should continue to stand with Israel against Hamas because we are supporting what is right in terms of the defence of values and democratic institutions that matter versus, in Hamas, a terrorist organisation that deliberately, on 7 October, targeted women, children and young people at music festivals, and deliberately murdered, raped, slaughtered and kidnapped those individuals, sparking this conflict and that continues to hold hostages. Apparently, according to Senator Steele-John, I am deflecting by mentioning Hamas or mentioning the hostages. Call it a deflection if you want. I think it is core to the conflict that is being waged.

We believe that Hamas is an evil terrorist organisation, their continued holding of hostages is an evil act and the way in which they have held those hostages using the Palestinian people as a human shield is a further evil that is perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction so tragically. We should continue to stand with Israel against the defeat of Hamas just as we should continue to stand with Ukraine against the defeat of Russia, just as we should give support and encouragement to those oppressed Burmese against the Tatmadaw and the military junta in Myanmar and just as we should make sure that as a country we stand for right versus wrong. That does not mean that in all of these cases we unconditionally support every action, every behaviour and every decision that occurs in faraway places over which we have no influence or no direct say. We should be clear, as this Senate and parliament were when the joint motion was passed by the government and the opposition, that we have expectations in relation to respect for international law and to humanitarian support being made available, and we should absolutely make those expectations clear continuously.

The coalition wants to see more humanitarian assistance reach, and we would like to see a ceasefire but not the unconditional ceasefire the Greens call for, which would just give Hamas opportunities to reorganise, regroup and regain power while presumably continuing to hold the hostages that they have held ever since 7 October. We would wish to see a ceasefire where Hamas releases the hostages, surrenders, hands over its terrorist operatives and terrorist infrastructure and which puts the region on a path to greater stability and greater peace. That is an outcome that could be secured and would achieve steps forward, whereas the Greens' pathway is one that would just perpetuate the circumstance further. That is why we are very clear in continuing to support the words this parliament had in October last year, and we will continue to stand by those words.