Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator McKim, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Senate to recognise the State of Palestine.

It has been eight long months of Israel's full-blown genocide in Gaza—eight months in which Israel has slaughtered more than 37,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 children, and eight months in which Israel has relentlessly bombed schools, hospitals, ambulances, universities, places of worship and the tents where forcibly displaced Palestinians are taking refuge. Many thousands of Palestinians are missing, buried under the rubble. Nothing has been spared and no-one has been spared. Doctors who are returning from Gaza are calling it hell on earth.

The need for justice for Palestine and the recognition of statehood has never been more urgent, and all Labor, who are in government, have offered are hollow words, tepid statements and expressions of concern, all of which Israel has ignored and will continue to ignore. When it comes to action, the Albanese government have absolutely failed. They have failed to join South Africa's ICJ case against Israel, failed to end the two-way arms trade with Israel, failed to sanction Israel, failed to expel the Israeli ambassador, failed to acknowledge the undeniable reality that what we are witnessing is a genocide—they can't even call it a genocide when it's happening right in front of their eyes—and failed to call for an end to Israel's apartheid and occupation. They have also failed so far to do the bare minimum and join the 147 countries which recognise the State of Palestine.

So today we give them a chance to finally take this bare-minimum first step. Frankly, it is embarrassing and shameful that they haven't done this already. Today I say to every member of the Albanese government in this chamber, and in the other chamber as well: you should be embarrassed that it has come to this. You refused, you voted against, a similar Greens motion in the House just last month, and you should be even more ashamed and embarrassed if you don't vote for this motion today. The Greens are the only party here with a conscience, the only party that gives a damn about Palestinian lives. And we will do all we can to drag the Albanese government kicking and screaming to take real action.

At the heart of recognising Palestinian statehood must be the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to liberation. That includes the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the right to ownership and control over land and resources, and the right to live freely in dignity and equality in their homeland. But it cannot be the only step. The Labor government must take tangible actions which put an end to Israel's never-ending catalogue of human rights abuses, including the imposition of an arms embargo and sanctions. Just this year alone, the Albanese government has sanctioned Russia, Iran, North Korea and Myanmar, and it beggars belief that Israel is getting away scot-free. The occupation has to end. The apartheid wall must fall. The world must do to Israel what it did to South Africa: boycott, divestment and sanction. That broke the back of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, and we need to do the same in Israel.

Last month, as I said, Labor cowardly voted against a motion similar to the one we're moving here today in the Senate by refusing to recognise Palestinian statehood. In doing so, Labor firmly cemented themselves as an enemy of the Palestinian people and as a traitor to their own party. And now, here we are: they really are trying to water down a very simple, straightforward motion to recognise Palestine as a state—ducking and weaving, trying to move amendments—rather than take a principled position, a position that is actually in their policy platform. You are playing political games while there is a genocide happening.

Labor is trying to escape accountability and to have it both ways: to pretend they care about Palestine when doing nothing for Palestine. And people can see right through it. You're trying to strip down a motion calling for a basic, fundamental act of justice to recognise Palestine. Well, I say to you, Labor: Our motion is clear and simple. We're not changing it. All it does is call on the Senate to recognise the state of Palestine, consistent with your own policy. We're not backing down. We are not going to change our motion. You have to decide whether you want to vote for it or against it. (Time expired)