Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

This is yet another piece of one-sided grandstanding by the Greens for their own political purposes. What we have here today is a suspension of standing orders to allow debate on a motion which doesn't mention Hamas, which doesn't mention the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist network, and which doesn't call for hostages to be released. The context in which the Australian Greens seek to suspend standing orders to debate this stunt today is that this week the Islamic Republic of Iran regime is broadcasting its intention to mount a massive attack on Israel and Israeli civilians. The IRI regime is openly stating its intent to do so in coordination with designated terrorist organisations Hezbollah and Hamas—once again putting the civilians of Gaza and Lebanon in danger, as those terrorist groups fire rockets from within civilian areas and hide beneath civilian homes to use innocent people as human shields.

Any reasonable and responsible person knows and accepts that since 7 October the Islamic Republic of Iran has used its terror network to put the lives of civilians in danger, not just in Israel but also in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. Yet, as the IRI openly threatens to massively escalate this war, today we have the Greens once again coming into the Senate and seeking to suspend standing orders with a one-sided stunt designed to appeal to their political base, which attacks Israel at every opportunity. It is a sign that, again, the Greens seek to foster division in Australia for their own political advantage and to grandstand on an issue that indeed does involve enormous human tragedy.

None of us like to see this loss of civilian life and the tragedy that has occurred. We all wish to see a peaceful end to this conflict, but a peaceful end means that hostages must be released and that the terrorists must be disarmed. Of course, we must demand an end to the repeated threats from the IRI regime to eradicate Israel, which are even being circulated here in Australia. Instead of making those necessary and important points, this attempt by the Greens to suspend standing orders today completely ignores them. This is an attempt to focus the news cycle on anti-Israel sentiment at the exact same time that the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah are plotting a potentially catastrophic attack on a democratic partner of Australia.

Israel is a democracy. That means there is democratic accountability at the ballot box for elected officials, their statements and their actions, and there are legal processes in place for those who are alleged to have broken the law. But what the Greens are attempting to do here is suspend the standing orders of this chamber to pronounce judgement on officials in another democracy, while simultaneously refusing to reference in any respect the terrorist actions of the IRI regime of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The bipartisan motion that both chambers of this parliament passed last October unequivocally condemned the terrorist attacks of 7 October on Israel by Hamas, including the targeting and murder of women and children, the taking of hostages and the indiscriminate firing of rockets. These attacks resulted in the biggest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust. Hamas still holds around 120 hostages captive, and Hamas hides those hostages, just as it hides its terrorist militias and terrorist military equipment amongst Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure, increasing the tragic toll on innocent Palestinians. Hamas and supporters in Hezbollah continue to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israel, seeking to inflict maximum pain and death on Israel's civilians and soldiers alike. They and their supporters in Iran continue to call for the death of all Jews and for Israel's destruction. No nation could or would live with this sort of threat to its citizens.

In our bipartisan motion last October, the chambers of this parliament resolutely made clear that we stand with Israel and we recognise its inherent right to defend itself. We acknowledged the devastating loss of Israeli and Palestinian life and that the innocent civilians on all sides are suffering as a result of the attacks by Hamas and the subsequent conflict. This motion made clear Australia's support for humanitarian access to Gaza, the protection of civilian lives and the observance of international law, and that remains the position of the coalition.

Israel has every right to defend itself in response and to deter future attacks and other acts of aggression, coercion and interference.