Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of all answers to all coalition questions. It's been a challenging question time to sit through. Yesterday, many of us were involved in a series of different events around the country to respect the memory of the over 1,200 innocent people who were murdered on October 7. I think what concerns us all collectively is that there are still people that don't accept or acknowledge that what transpired on that day was grossly unacceptable, that what happened on that day was, in fact, an act of terrorism, a massacre of innocent people. What disturbs us and what was the context of many of our questions was that, instead of remembering and respecting that and allowing our Jewish communities to grieve yesterday, many groups still decided yesterday was an appropriate day to celebrate, to draw on the fact that there was something good they could point to as a result of October 7. Our questions pointed to the fact that that kind of position in Australia is unacceptable. I say that as a first generation Australian, someone who is a product of multicultural Australia and someone who understands the importance of living in harmony when the place that your own family came from doesn't have harmony.

We're particularly concerned that there are extremist organisations talking about October 7 being a day of courage and a day of celebration, and we fairly question whether those organisations should be given government grants for different things. They are things that need to be answered and they are things that need to be understood. If those types of organisations are being given funding that is not being used appropriately, then we need to ensure that it never happens again. Let us be clear: we should not be funding organisations that support terrorism, and Hamas and Hezbollah are both listed terrorist organisations. If we go on to the national security website, they are clearly listed there, with definitions and explanations as to why.

If there are people who come into our country, under the guise of any form of tourist visa or a holiday visa—whatever it is—and incite division and vilification, then that, too, should be unacceptable, and that relates to our questions about whether one of the individuals at one of the protests on the weekend will have his visa revoked. We have, for good reason, character requirements for visas, and they state very clearly that you are not of good character, in relation to that visa, if you harass, intimidate or stalk another person; vilify a segment of the Australian community; or incite discord in the Australian community or any part of it. They are the reasons for those questions, and answers to those questions are very important.

I also note Senator Wong's comments around the need for us to consider our language—how it can inflame tensions, how it can inflame violence. I want to finish by pointing to the actions of the Australian Greens in holding up placards during question time. That doesn't help any of us. It doesn't help us achieve any good outcome, and it doesn't help the Australian Jewish community, who have suffered extraordinarily since October 7. It doesn't help any of the young women who were raped and mutilated and murdered on that day and whose only crime that day was being Jewish.

Question agreed to.