Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes:

     (i)   its decision on 23 March 2011 to acknowledge that Israel is a legitimate and democratic state and a good friend of Australia and to denounce the Israeli boycott by Marrickville Council and condemn any expansion of it,

     (ii)   the response by the Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, to this decision of the Senate, which was to ask that the Australian Greens' opposition to this motion be recorded,

     (iii)   subsequent statements by Senator Brown that it was a mistake for the New South Wales Greens to advocate this policy and that it was neither the Federal Greens, nor his policy to boycott Israel, and

     (iv)   Marrickville Council's decision on 19 April 2011 to rescind its Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policy against Israel;

  (b)   rejects the policy of the New South Wales Greens which calls on all Australians and the Australian Government to boycott Israeli goods, trading and military arrangements, and sporting, cultural and academic events;

  (c)   notes with concern:

     (i)   the resolution carried at the 2010 Regional Conference of the Queensland Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to support the BDS campaign against Israel,

     (ii)   initial support for the support for the BDS campaign against Israel by four Labor councillors on Marrickville Council,

     (iii)   the decision by the New South Wales ALP to preference Greens candidate and Marrickville Mayor, Fiona Byrne, in the seat of Marrickville at the New South Wales state election, and

     (iv)   reports that Mr David Forde, Convenor of Labor 4A Just Palestine, who supports the BDS campaign, is a frontrunner for ALP preselection for the Queensland state seat of Stretton;

  (d)   denounces support lent to the BDS campaign against Israel by the: Victorian Trades Hall Council; Geelong Trades Hall Council; Newcastle Trades Hall Council; South Coast Labour Council; Queensland Council of Unions; UnionsACT and branches of the Australian Services Union; Teachers' Union; Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union; Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Maritime Union of Australia; Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union; Electrical Trades Union; Finance Sector Union; Health and Community Services Union; and Rail, Tram and Bus Union;

  (e)   calls on the Australian Council of Trade Unions to oppose this campaign; and

  (f)   in light of events and information available to the Senate since 23 March 2011, reaffirms its decision that Israel is a legitimate and democratic state and a good friend of Australia.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement on the motion.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is one of those matters which is a longstanding foreign affairs issue. The government has a longstanding practice of not dealing with complex foreign policy matters through Senate motions. The government does not support boycotts that impede legitimate trade between states and has expressed its strong opposition to the Marrickville council's earlier proposed boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.

The motion moved by the Senator Abetz does appear to be more concerned with politics than expressing support for Israel. I ask Senator Abetz if he would care to explain to the Senate why at the last federal election the Liberal Party directed preferences to Greens candidates in New South Wales, in particular why the Liberal Party directed preferences to Sam Byrne, the Greens candidate for Grayndler, which covers Marrickville council. But without turning this into the politics that Senator Abetz has expressed, the longstanding practice really highlights the issue that I have indicated—that is, they are complex foreign policy matters and on that basis it has been long practice that we do not support this motion.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement, and also to move an amendment to the motion.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I foreshadow that I will seek to amend this motion to make reference to the detrimental effect of the Israeli blockade in Gaza on the Palestinian people living in Gaza, and also to note that Australia is a good friend of the Palestinian territories and its people. I did previously circulate a motion which simply referred to the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian people. That is not correct in the sense that the blockade is confined, if you want to use that word, to Gaza. But if we are going to move this motion, it is important to also state as a matter of fact the impact on the Palestinians in Gaza in terms of the blockade. I did give notice earlier to my colleagues, as soon as I could, but I do seek to move from the floor an amendment to the motion to put at the end of Senator Abetz's motion. I move:

After paragraph (e), insert:

(ea)   notes:

     (i)   the detrimental effect of the Israeli blockade in Gaza on the Palestinian people living in Gaza, and

     (ii)   that Australia is a good friend of the Palestinian territories and its people; and

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order for your consideration in relation to the amendment that Senator Xenophon has moved. This is a motion relating solely to the BDS situation—that is, the boycotts, divestment and sanctions policy against Israel. Senator Xenophon is now trying to introduce other extraneous matters not directly relevant to the motion and, interestingly enough, on a technical point, it is interesting that Senator Xenophon sees the need to note the detrimental effect of the Israeli blockade on the people of Gaza, but allegedly the Egyptian blockade on the people of Gaza can be completely ignored and that is the evil of the BDS policy because what it seeks to do—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Abetz, I think you are—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am now debating rather than raising a point of order.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you want to seek leave to make a statement, you can.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will ask you to rule on the point of order first.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will rule on the point of order first. An amendment only has to be relevant to a notice of motion and we were always given a fairly wide brief in relation to amending notices of motion before the chair, so I must allow the amendment to continue.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I accept your ruling, Mr Deputy President, and I now seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave granted.

The Labor Party come into this place with a lame excuse that this is somehow a complex issue. On 23 March this year it was not a complex issue. What has made it complex for the Australian Labor Party is that they are unable to justify why so many of their affiliated unions, and indeed the state division of the Labor Party, of which their foreign minister, Mr Rudd, is a member, have passed motions in support of this objectionable policy.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise a point of order, Mr Deputy President. I understand that in granting leave the usual two-minute time limit will apply.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I apologise, Senator Brown. That was my mistake. I should have said leave was granted for two minutes because in fact the clerks cannot set the clocks unless I announce it from the chair. Leave was granted for two minutes.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to Senator Xenophon's amendment, I do find it quite objectionable—and I say that to my good friend—that all he is concerned about is the Israeli blockade of the Gazan people and there is no concern about Egypt. That is why the BDS policy that the Greens have been promoting is so wrong: it only seeks to condemn Israel and not Egypt. Why don't we have a BDS policy on Egypt courtesy of the Greens, especially from New South Wales? Why doesn't that concern Senator Xenophon?

The amendment he has moved has unfortunately shown what is actually behind this. Is it that Australia is a good friend of the Palestinian territories and its people? I have no objection to that. But that is not part and parcel of what we are dealing with. We are dealing with the evil of the BDS policy which Senator Bob Brown himself has finally come to reject in the wake of the New South Wales state election where one of the Green candidates clearly did not win a seat against Labor because of that policy. I say to the people of New South Wales, 'Well done!'

In relation to the allocation of preferences that Senator Ludwig raised, I say to Senator Ludwig: in the New South Wales election for that seat, the Liberal Party did not allocate preferences. The Labor Party did and put Fiona Byrne at No. 2 on the how-to-vote card in the state election, so please do not come in here and try to lecture and hector us. I know it is embarrassing for certain elements in this place that the anti-Israel stance being taken by some political parties and groups, such as trade unions, does need to be opposed. (Time expired)

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—If I have stated a fact which is incorrect I would withdraw that. I will check that but, on the basis that Senator Abetz has raised the issue I may have misled the Senate, I would withdraw it at this stage unless I could confirm otherwise. That is the easiest and fairest thing to do.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very grateful to Senator Abetz for his contribution. It was remiss of me not to include the Egyptian blockade. I do not have the expertise that Senator Abetz clearly has in foreign affairs. I think it is a fair point. Clearly the blockade, whether it is by Israel or Egypt, on Gaza and the impact on the Palestinian people is something that is causing detriment and that should be noted. That was the intent of the motion. I seek your guidance, Mr Deputy President, as to whether I can withdraw my previous amendment and move another amendment which would incorporate Egypt as well as Israel in terms of the blockade. This could be dealt with to incorporate the concerns raised by Senator Abetz, and I am grateful, genuinely, to him for raising that.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Xenophon, I am advised you can seek leave to amend your amendment by adding the words 'the Israeli and Egyptian blockade' if you wish.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend the amendment.

Leave granted.

Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As all senators know, I am a person who has many times spoken in this parliament as a strong supporter of the state of Israel and I do so again. But I want to point out that if you read this motion carefully you will have no doubt that this is simply a political stunt, because all it seeks to do is condemn trade unions and certain members of the Labor Party because of a particular stance that they have taken on the BDS.

I am totally opposed to the BDS. I have been on the record on that and my position is absolutely clear. Let me point out there are people in the coalition—I know them—including former ministers from former Liberal Party governments who are also hostile towards the Israeli government. I will name one: Tim Fischer. Tim is a very honourable man but a person who is on the record as being, and whom I have heard on certain occasions being, very hostile towards the Israeli government. ll I am doing is pointing out to you that you are trying to single out for a political purpose the fact that there may be people in our party or in the trade union movement who have a particular view on the Middle East issue. That is a fact right across the country—they exist in your political party—and this is simply hypocrisy of the highest order.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since when has Tim Fischer said he supports the BDS?

Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You know as well as I do that this is nothing more than a political attack.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Forshaw, you are starting to debate the issue rather than making a statement.

Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pointing out the reasons that I would not support this motion. I would support the sympathies that underlie opposition to a BDS. I think we are clearly on the record on that—it is our position as a party—but have a look at yourselves in the mirror for once before you start trying to attack others.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I draw the Senate back to the terrific circumstances which have led to this debate both in Marrickville in the New South Wales elections and now in this great parliament—that is, the unhealed sore of the disputes, the violence, the continuing death toll and the harrowing circumstances of people living in Palestine and in Israel and, indeed, in other parts of the Middle East.

It is our job to think about it and to debate it. We should not merely find ourselves fighting over it. We should also find some way of actually helping more than the world has helped in the past to ensure the security of the people of Israel and their right to live in peace into the future as well as the right of the people of Palestine to have their own country with equal security to chart their own future in the same way as the rest of the world does. It is incredibly important that we try to limit in the future the violence that we have seen in the past from both sides and to give a peace dividend to the whole region by having those two peoples living in peace with each other. Maybe we should set aside a full and open debate at some stage in this chamber to talk about just that. They deserve it, and we deserve to do it in a constructive way that would end in a peace which would in turn make all of us on this planet a bit more secure and happy.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement for 30 seconds.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for 30 seconds.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to put a proposition to Senator Xenophon. Is Senator Xenophon willing to acknowledge on the record that the blockade is in response to acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas from the Palestinian territories on Israel? If he would be willing to acknowledge that on the record, we would be minded to support his amendment. That would be the caveat.

Senator Cameron interjecting—

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Cameron!

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It would be ungracious of me not to respond to Senator Abetz's invitation.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Proposition.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Or his proposition; I think it was an invitation as well as a proposition, Senator Siewert. The position is this: there is no doubt, on the basis of the discussions I have had with members of the Palestinian community and the friends of Palestine here in Australia, that both the Egyptian and the Israeli blockades have had an enormous impact on Palestinians who are completely innocent of any involvement with Hamas. The effect on children and on the supply of medicines is quite profound. I note that the Israeli government says that they have instituted the blockade in response to the role of Hamas; but things such as pasta, pencils and stationery have been blockaded. So I think that the blockade goes well beyond issues of security.

I feel comfortable about supporting this motion if this amendment is passed, but I do not support the blockade of Israel that has been proposed by, I think, the New South Wales Greens and by some in the Labor Party. I think that is completely unacceptable, and I want that to be on the record; but in the context of this motion I believe it to be appropriate that we acknowledge the impact of the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian people. That in itself should not be seen as an endorsement in any way whatsoever of a terrorist organisation such as Hamas; instead it is about the impact of the blockade on innocent Palestinians and the very deep detrimental effects on those Palestinians.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind senators that we are in the process of discovering formal business. Formal business means that senators seek leave to make statements but today they have turned into debates and it is an issue that I in my position as the Deputy President may refer to the Procedure Committee. This is not the correct process of discovering formal business.

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement for two minutes.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This started out as a simple motion; it is now becoming anything but simple. I am frightened that I am going to be voting for something I do not want because I do not have the amendment in front of me. I think we ought to get this amendment down in writing and before everyone in the Senate prior to a vote being taken.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell, you have foreshadowed what I intended to do: I am now going to put the amendment, but before I do so I will ask the Clerk to read the amendment as moved by Senator Xenophon.

The Clerk: The amendment to general business notice No. 226 is as follows:

After paragraph (e), insert:

(ea)   notes:

     (i)   the detrimental effect of the Israeli blockade in Gaza on the Palestinian people living in Gaza, and

     (ii)   that Australia is a good friend of the Palestinian territories and its people; and

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question therefore is that Senator Xenophon's amendment to Senator Abetz's motion be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question now is that Senator Abetz's amended motion be agreed to. Those of that opinion say 'Aye' and to the contrary 'No'. I think the ayes have it.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I ask that it be recorded that the Greens supported Senator Xenophon's amendment but not the motion.

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brown, I need to be quite clear here, having called it. When I asked for support for the amended motion of Senator Abetz, you said 'Aye'. That means you called it for the ayes, and I called it for the ayes on that basis.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Then I ask for the call to be had again to clarify the matter.

Question put:

That the motion ( Senator Abetz's), as amended, be agreed to.

The Senate divided. [16:13]

(The President—Senator Hogg)

Question agreed to.