Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday, around 120 activists in Melbourne established a community picket of Victoria International Container Terminal, stopping work at the terminal for over five hours and causing delays to two ships supplying exports to Israel. On Gadigal country over the weekend, 19 people were arrested for protesting a genocide and blocking a ZIM Israeli ship arriving at Port Botany.

I want to send a message of solidarity to the community organisers, individuals and groups—like Unionists for Palestine, Block the Dock, Sit-Intifada and Action 4 Rafah—who are standing up against an increasingly violent and aggressive police force to call for justice and an end to the genocide. Your efforts have built working-class solidarity and understanding across the community. We've seen horrific images of police brutality towards peaceful protesters. The brutality of police against the community reminds us that they are here to protect those at the top.

This Labor government continues to ignore, deflect and dodge questions about the support they're giving to genocide in Gaza and the profits they're making from it, with appalling responses that offer us no transparency, no accountability and no truth-telling. Resistance in this country has a long history, from the frontier wars to today. Together, we will continue to fight for an end to genocide here and in Palestine, for justice and for peace.