Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the 76th anniversary of the Nakba in 1948.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to the contingent notice of motion standing in the name of Senator Waters, I move:

That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the 76th anniversary of the Nakba.

Today marks the 76th anniversary of the Nakba. Nakba is the Arabic word for 'catastrophe', and Nakba Day is observed by Palestinians across the world. The Nakba was the violent displacement, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people. This year this particular day is deeply solemn. Today's day of reflection is happening against the backdrop of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Tens of thousands of civilians are dead. Millions are being actively and deliberately starved, dehydrated and exposed to epidemic disease as a result of the choices and the actions of the State of Israel. As we sit here, the Israel military are dropping bombs and progressing their tanks through Rafah, one of the most densely populated places on the planet due to the forced depopulation of northern Gaza—1. 7 million people.

Seventy-five per cent of all Palestinians, 1.5 million people, in Gaza are now displaced, and this is the area the Israeli military are bombing and this is the area through which Israeli tanks are moving. Millions of people have been forced into an area not much bigger than a Perth suburb under the guise of it being a designated safe area. Well, just last week, dozens were killed in that designated safe zone by the Israeli military—shame. Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have crossed every red line imaginable. The Australian government has done nothing except tell Israel not to go down this path. It is clear that the war cabinet does not care for the weak words of this government—that they have no effect on restraining the bloodshed or devastation. It is time that the Prime Minister and the foreign minister took real, meaningful action.

I have been proud to be part of a movement in this place that has brought the people's protest into this place of power, this place where government officials and ministers could take action. The Australian government must cancel their contract with Elbit Systems. Until they do, they are aiding and abetting genocide. We must sanction Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet, who have made clear that they have no interest in respecting international law or the lives of innocent Palestinians. Crucially, we must expel the State of Israel's Ambassador to Australia because we cannot play a part in or uphold an international rules based order only when it suits us. War crimes must be called out wherever they occur and whoever the perpetrators are.

We are well over six months into this genocide. When is the Australian government going to wake up and actually do something about it? What will it take for you to see that the deaths of thousands of children and the levelling of whole cities is not a limited engagement but the latest series of actions by a state which has been systemically and actively working to rid and to move the Palestinian people from— (Time expired)