David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, the Canadian foreign minister announced that Canada would not send any weapons or weapons parts to Israel for use in Gaza. She made clear that, under international law, Canada cannot provide weapons or weapons parts to any country if there's a real risk they'll be used to commit human rights abuses, war crimes or genocide. The Albanese Labor government is under the same obligation, yet compare the Canadian foreign minister's statements to those of Minister Wong and her inconsistent deflection about military exports to Israel. All we get here are nonanswers from Minister Wong and bizarre statements from Defence officials, comparing F-35 weapons parts to pencils.

Yesterday, three of Australia's most eminent international lawyers, Chris Sidoti, Rawan Arraf and Professor Ben Saul, briefed this parliament on Australia's international legal obligations concerning trade with Israel, and they did it in the face of the recent ICJ advisory opinion on Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. All three of these lawyers agreed that the advisory opinion makes explicit Australia's obligation not to aid or abet Israel's illegal occupation and that this obligation, indeed, goes well beyond the weapons trade. It extends to any political, diplomatic, economic or financial activities that support the illegal occupation.

We know that the Commonwealth and some state governments have a raft of trade and military agreements with Israel, and not one has been cancelled, despite the horror we are witnessing in Gaza. To be clear, each of these agreements is designed to aid and abet Israel's illegal occupation or to support the illegal settlements.

I want to thank each of the legal experts for their time, their clarity and their professional advice. People in positions of responsibility in this parliament would do well to listen to their advice because history has a way of turning towards justice, and, even if this government is desperate to ignore the legal and brutal real-world truths about the conflict in Gaza, generations who are not represented here yet do understand, and they have justice in their hearts.