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

This is another shameless and shameful Greens stunt. It's another occasion where the Greens come in whilst indicating, of course, to the great suffering of those people in Gaza at present—the great suffering and enormous tragedy of the loss of life—and that far too many civilians have died in the period since 7 October. The Greens do so in a way to seek to divide in this chamber, to seek to wedge, and with a completely one-sided approach.

Does this motion call for the Iranian Ambassador to Australia or a representative to be expelled? No, it doesn't, notwithstanding the fact that Iran sponsored Hamas to undertake the 7 October slaughter of women, children, babies and others, notwithstanding the fact that Iran sponsors Hezbollah to maintain terrorist operations in the northern parts of Israel, notwithstanding the fact that Iran has been sponsoring the Houthi rebels to undertake attacks in the Red Sea and notwithstanding the fact that Iran has provided weapons to Russia to help and aid their attack on Ukraine.

This is a completely lopsided, one-sided, biased resolution from the Australian Greens. It does not deserve the consideration or the support of the Australian Senate. It overlooks the reality that Hamas continue to hold an estimated 130 hostages that they have held since the slaughter, on 7 October last year, of more Jews on a single day than at any time since the Holocaust. They continue to hold those hostages. Some have died whilst being held hostage by Hamas. In ceasefire negotiations, do Hamas agree to release hostages in return for a ceasefire? No, they don't. They stack all manner of other conditions upon that. Do Hamas agree to surrender terrorist infrastructure and terrorist leaders in return for a ceasefire? No, they don't. They are happy to continue to hide behind innocent civilians in Gaza and to let those people suffer and die while they seek to protect their Hamas terrorist leadership and infrastructure capabilities.

There is a pathway to a sustainable ceasefire. It would be for Hamas to unconditionally release its hostages and surrender its terrorist leadership and capabilities. That would actually provide a genuine pathway for a ceasefire, stability and security and for proper negotiations to occur towards a two-state solution that is negotiated and, unlike what the Labor Party is taking Australia's policy position towards, tackles the difficult questions around borders, rights of return, security agreements and other factors that are essential and necessary for there to be enduring peace between Israeli peoples and Palestinian peoples within the region. But we will not be party to this type of stunt by the Greens, this type of one-sided approach by the Greens or this type of divisiveness from the Greens.