Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The President has received the following letter from Senator McKim today:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

Given the end of the truce in Gaza and the intensification of the State of Israel's bombing in Southern Gaza, the Australian Government must call for an immediate permanent ceasefire to end the humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Gaza, for the unconditional release of all hostages and political prisoners and for an urgent end to the siege and invasion of Gaza."

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with informal arrangements made by the whips.

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

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

Given the end of the truce in Gaza and the intensification of the State of Israel's bombing in Southern Gaza, the Australian Government must call for an immediate permanent ceasefire to end the humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Gaza, for the unconditional release of all hostages and political prisoners and for an urgent end to the siege and invasion of Gaza.

On Friday, with the expiry of the temporary truce, the State of Israel's military recommenced its offensive in Gaza. As of this morning, 15,523 Palestinians have been killed and 41,316 wounded since 7 October. More than 700 deaths have been recorded in Gaza in the past 24 hours alone. Thousands lie under the rubble, and 85 per cent of the population of Gaza is now confirmed as displaced.

Many of Gaza's 2.3 million people are now crammed into the south, after the State of Israel ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the invasion. There were no fewer than 127 incidents involving explosive weapons within the so-called safe zone in the first week after the State of Israel's warning to move south on 14 October.

And now the State of Israel is continuing to push civilians from the north to the south and yet, at the same time, they are dropping leaflets indicating that their next target is Khan Yunis, a city in the south of Gaza. This Senate can be under no illusion: nowhere is safe in Gaza. These are the words of the UNICEF representatives speaking to the world in the past 48 hours: 'This is the worst bombardment of the war right now in the south of Gaza. I have seen massive child casualties. We have a final warning to save children and our collective conscience. I feel like I am running out of ways to describe the horrors hitting children here. I feel like I am almost failing in my ability to convey the endless killing of children here.'

People in Gaza are literally begging for governments like this Labor government to notice their humanity. They are begging for their right to survive. They are begging to have access to and recognition of their basic human rights and the necessities that we all take for granted. They are fighting for their own lives while trying to share what is happening in Gaza all so that people in positions of power, like Australia's Prime Minister and foreign minister, may take from their suffering a little bit of their courage and their humanity and finally call for a permanent ceasefire.

This entrapment of innocent lives within a small space which the State of Israel's military continues to perpetrate only to then bomb those civilians can have only one result: mass civilian casualties. The dehumanising language that many senior ministers in the State of Israel have used can only further the understanding that, to them, this is acceptable. Dropping leaflets and giving evacuation warnings are offensive distractions from the reality that the policies of the State of Israel have no regard to the right of Palestinians to live.

Every member of this Senate knows the basic truth that, in Gaza, there is nowhere safe to go. The only choice left to us is whether to speak that truth or hide from it. The Greens call on the Senate once again to engage with that truth and to speak it, to uphold humanitarian law and to listen to those UN experts who are calling on the global community to recognise the very real risk of genocide and of ethnic cleansing in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli state. We must speak truth in this moment, in the name of humanity, and call for a ceasefire now.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am going to read out this matter of public urgency that has been lodged by the Greens:

Given the end of the truce in Gaza and the intensification of the State of Israel's bombing in Southern Gaza, the Australian Government must call for an immediate permanent ceasefire to end the humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Gaza, for the unconditional release of all hostages and political prisoners and for an urgent end to the siege and invasion of Gaza

This is where the Greens are at their absolute worst. The ceasefire came about because Israel sat down and tried to do a deal with Hamas for the release of hostages, over 240 hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, a date that will live in infamy for the State of Israel and for all of those who believe in free Liberal democracies, when terrorists pushed through the border and invaded Israel, a free country, and murdered over 1,200 free people living in Israel.

Not only was there murder and assaults; we saw sexualised violence being used against Israelis, where people were sexually assaulted and then murdered, where people were raped and then murdered. But you don't hear the Greens talking about the sexualised violence that was used against Israeli citizens.

The ceasefire ended because Hamas broke the terms of the ceasefire by failing to release the list of names of hostages, and then started bombing, again, innocent Israeli citizens. The only way to end this war is for Hamas, who are a terrorist organisation, to release the hostages. The release of some hostages is just a tiny reminder of the torture that Hamas has inflicted on hundreds of families, on millions of Israelis, on hundreds of millions of people around this world who believe in freedom and liberty and who are suffering because of the actions of a terrorist organisation.

It is so sad that, in Australia, we have supporters of Hamas, like those people who invaded the hotel in Melbourne last week, targeting the families of hostages—families who were in this building last week, families who were out the front of this Australian Parliament House, families who met with members and senators to talk about their stories such as the mum whose son was murdered. These Hamas supporters in Australia think it is perfectly acceptable to invade a hotel and attack people through that invasion.

We use this word 'antisemitism', and I'm going to call it out for what it is. Antisemitism does not get down to the nuts and bolts of what is ascribed to antisemitism. If you are antisemitic you are anti-Jew, and we've got to call that out. The actions of those protesters in Melbourne last week were anti-Jewish. The actions of Hamas are anti-Jewish. But we shouldn't be surprised that the Greens are like this. We should not forget that Senator Faruqi, the Deputy Leader of the Greens in this chamber, put on Instagram a photo of her standing beside someone holding a sign saying, 'Keep the world clean of Jews'. This is the Greens for you—a party who thinks it's acceptable to put signs like that on social media. Shame on the Greens!

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat, Senator McGrath. Senator Waters?

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Faruqi took down that photograph and apologised for it being posted. I think the record needs to accurately reflect what occurred.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that has been noted previously in the chamber.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Faruqi put a sign up on her Instagram saying, 'Clean the world of Jews'. Shame on the Greens! Shame on Senator Faruqi!

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McCarthy.

Resume your seat, Senator McCarthy. Senator Steele-John?

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McGrath just uttered the most disgusting accusation of myself and my colleagues in relation to antisemitism. I can't repeat what he just said. He must withdraw. I have never heard anything like that in my life.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Steele-John, I was just getting ready to move the call and—Senator McGrath?

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McCarthy.

No, no, no.

Senator McGrath, leave the chamber in silence.

Leave the chamber in silence.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call on all senators to remember that our words in this place matter and that they impact all of those Australians out there who are feeling very mixed feelings, from both sides of this horrific conflict that's taking place in the Middle East. It does not do this Senate any good to bring in here that kind of discussion and personal attacks on other senators.

Australia deeply regrets that hostilities have resumed in Gaza and the immense human suffering that continues. The recent pause allowed for the release of 105 hostages, the protection of civilians and a much-needed increase in critical humanitarian supplies at such an important time. I thank Senator McKim for bringing this motion on, because we need to be able to continue to recognise what is going on in the Middle East. Australia wants to see this support of humanitarian supplies continue. We continue to call for hostages to be released, for sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access and, of course, for the protection of civilian lives—men, women and children. We are urging all parties to exercise restraint, respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians, and we must ultimately work towards a long-term, enduring peace. The government has called for Israel to honour its commitment to uphold international law and protect innocent lives. We've called on Israel to protect hospitals, medical staff and patients, and we have said Israel must conduct its military operations lawfully. We also call for safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and safe passage for civilians. Even before these recent hostilities resumed, suffering continued, particularly in Gaza. UNICEF have said:

Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It's a living hell for everyone else.

As this conflict continues, we must remember a child is a child and they should be protected, no matter who or where they are.

The peace we all want to see requires a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living securely and prosperously within internationally recognised borders. Australia has been working with countries, and I commend Senator Wong for the work that she's doing in this area. She's working with those countries that have influence in the region to help protect and support civilians, to help prevent the conflict from spreading and to reinforce the need for the just and enduring peace that all of us want.

I'd also like to just reach out to my constituents in the Northern Territory. I've sat down and met with members from the Palestinian community and also from the Jewish community. I know how distressing this is, and we all do. I have no doubt that every single senator and every member of parliament has heard stories from people that they're close to and also from their own constituents, and I thank them for the work that they're doing to try to bring about greater peace and understanding in both of those areas. Thank you. We are certainly making sure that our government is listening to the calls that you are making in the Northern Territory.

We all understand how distressing these events are. There are people who've lost family, people who've lost friends and people who feel so deeply about these issues, and these are traumatic images, with the loss of life. We must all work to ensure that distress does not turn into hate and anger. There is, of course, no place for violence, antisemitism, racism or Islamophobia here in Australia. I would remind senators that we have our own domestic issues here too as far as these issues are concerned. Our language matters. The way we pursue peace in our own country, amongst the many diverse groups that we have, is absolutely critical, and it's the same thing that we want to see in the Middle East.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support this urgency motion:

Given the end of the truce in Gaza and the intensification of the State of Israel's bombing in Southern Gaza, the Australian Government must call for an immediate permanent ceasefire to end the humanitarian catastrophe occurring in Gaza, for the unconditional release of all hostages and political prisoners and for an urgent end to the siege and invasion of Gaza.

Over the past eight weeks the realities of this humanitarian catastrophe have been brought to us by journalists and filmmakers on the ground, persevering through communications blackouts, relentless air strikes and deep personal loss to document the devastation, usually via social media platforms. Seven hundred civilians in Gaza have been killed just since the brief humanitarian pause collapsed over the weekend. With this horrific onslaught continuing, those same journalists are now posting messages of resignation to the reality of the danger all Palestinians in Gaza are facing and the selective ignorance of the world to their plight.

Bisan Owda, a young Palestinian filmmaker who has started each day by telling the world, 'This is Bisan. I'm still alive,' posted yesterday:

I no longer have any hope of survival like I had at the beginning … and I am certain that I will die in the next few weeks or maybe days.

A Message to friends: Thank you and the supporters around the world. You have been compassionate and very strong. We ask you not to lose hope, even if the world seems completely unfair and your efforts have not yet resulted in a ceasefire.

Hamza Wael, a press photographer in Gaza, posted:

58 days of documenting and publishing everything that happens … and no one moved. Do you need another 58 days to confirm?

Just a few days before she was able to leave Gaza, Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad posted:

I used to always wear my press vest and helmet … but lately I stopped wearing them. I don't feel safe, but especially when wearing the press vest and helmet.

Journalist Motaz Azaiza says:

The stage of risking everything to bring you the news has ended. The stage of trying to survive has begun. Our situation is more dire than you can imagine.

Some 15½ thousand people, including 61 journalists, have lost their lives in this conflict so far. The Committee to Protect Journalists also reports multiple assaults, threats, attempts at censorship and killings of family members. These are the colleagues of people in our press gallery who've lost their lives trying to tell the truth about the atrocities that have been committed.

We stand with the brave journalists of Palestine and the occupied territories, we stand with press freedom and we stand against the war crimes of Israel. The Australian government must call for an immediate permanent ceasefire, for the unconditional release of all hostages and political prisoners, and for an urgent end to the siege and invasion of Gaza. Please, call for a permanent ceasefire.

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

I join the calls of my Greens colleagues in this chamber and the millions around the world who are calling for an urgent and permanent ceasefire. Nothing could be as urgent as ending the senseless killing of the people of Gaza. I want to recognise the extraordinary resilience of the people in Gaza, particularly the journalists who, while their world is being destroyed around them, are telling the story of the Palestinian people. They are empowering calls for a ceasefire by showing in real time the horrific atrocities being carried out against them, their families and neighbourhoods.

These brave journalists are now known by their first names by many of us around the world who follow to understand what's happening on the ground in Gaza in the face of mainstream media who are too often disappointing at best. Bisan Owda usually begins her videos saying, 'I'm still alive.' She's a filmmaker and storyteller who has stepped up in this awful moment to raise the voices of her people. Just a few hours ago she posted a video of artillery trails in the sky above where she is in the south of Gaza, the supposedly safe area.

Plestia Alaqad tells us the stories of not only the war but also the children in her neighbourhood, the longing for the time before the violence and her love of Gaza. She has stood in Gaza and has shown the impact of not just the bombs but the flooding of the temporary camps, the lack of food, the danger as the weather turns colder and the psychological effects of hearing bombs and bombs for weeks on end.

Motaz Azaiza is on the ground after attacks, often placing himself in very real danger—as if anywhere in Gaza were not dangerous. He talks in his videos about the shame of filming his fellow Gazans during their most devastating moments, but he knows the power of truth and that what is happening needs to be shown to the world.

Hind Khoudary often tweets bombing raids through the night, and she asked: 'Where should people go? Flee where? Nowhere is safe in Gaza.' Her house was destroyed, and she's had to report the breaking news of her colleagues dying in real time. We saw Wael Dahdouh, the bureau chief of Al Jazeera, being told on air that his family had been killed in an Israeli air strike. We saw him continuing his work, telling the world what was happening even in the middle of that impossible despair. His family had moved to the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza after listening to the Israeli Defence Force warnings to leave the north, and they were still killed.

I know many in Gaza despair at not being heard around the world, but the world is listening, even if our so-called leadership are not. What these journalists are doing is so critically important. It's more than just the number of bombs, cities targeted; they show what really is going on. They are things that we should never have to see and that no-one should suffer: a child having limbs amputated without anaesthetic; an older Palestinian woman, displaced from home in 1948 during the Nakba, now displaced again; the aftermath of bombings that have flattened entire neighbourhoods. They say that in war truth is the first casualty. So far, 61 journalists and media workers have been confirmed dead—54 Palestinian, four Israeli and three Lebanese.

Journalists are not the only heroes, of course. I think also of the doctors who've refused to leave their patients, the taxi drivers operating as ambulance drivers, the aid workers desperately trying to save lives, the bakers feeding the hungry from the few bakeries still standing, and the parents and grandparents trying to protect their kids and grandkids. In the face of this, anything less from a political leader than calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire is complicity in these ongoing killings. Ceasefire now.

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We need an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza now. Latest reports are that 15,523 Palestinians have been killed and 41,316 wounded since 7 October. It is estimated that seventy per cent of the people killed have been women, children and the elderly. With the Israeli government vowing to continue the attack with 'increasing force', the number of innocent people killed will, awfully, continue to rise. There are 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, most of whom are living in overcrowded shelters, with poor access to hygiene facilities and safe water. Evacuees are living in these conditions while facing the threat of air strikes, with the knowledge that, if they are wounded, adequate health care is virtually non-existent.

How can it be that the world, including Australia, is standing by and condoning such horrors? How can it be that our government is effectively saying that international human rights law doesn't apply to the Israeli government? The IDF have bombed hospitals on the pretence that the hospitals were hiding major Hamas terror operations. When that hasn't been the case, they've just shrugged their shoulders at having committed the most atrocious war crimes. Just yesterday, Israel continued its bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp. Local media reported, 'A residential square containing at least 300 people, half of whom are children, was just completely flattened to the ground.'

It is so distressing. I believed that we were a country that believed in the international rules based order, that we wanted to see a just and lasting peace in Israel and Palestine. But clearly we are not. We are clearly joined at the hip with US imperialism, the Israeli occupation, and Israel's persecution and illegal killing of Palestinians. The only way to move towards a just and lasting peace is to end the war. If the Australian government believed in a just and lasting peace, they would be exerting every effort for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza now, and they'd be advocating for and supporting the delivery of unrestricted humanitarian relief.

I want to finish by sharing part of a statement from Bisan, a Palestinian journalist living in Gaza. She says:

I no longer have any hope of survival like I did at the beginning of this genocide, and I am certain I will die in the next few weeks or maybe even days.

I suffer nightmares that so closely resemble reality I can no longer differentiate between reality and dreams.

I am a community activist who lived in the fantasy that the world was free and just, and I sought to bring rights not only to my people but to all peoples across the world.

The world approves, supports, legislates and finances the genocide we are being subjected to. My message to the world: You are not innocent of what is happening to us, we will not forgive you and we will not forget, and, even if we die, history will not forget.

Bisan ends on a message of hope, thanking friends and supporters around the world, and she asks us to not lose hope and to keep fighting for a ceasefire, and that's exactly what we will do. I say to the Labor government, by not calling for an immediate and ongoing ceasefire, you are complicit in this humanitarian catastrophe, these blatant breaches of international law. We will not forget that, and we will not forgive you. Israel's relentless and inhumane attacks must end.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The deplorable actions of the government of Israel in Gaza cannot be understated, from the indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian areas to the ruthless destruction of homes and the shattering of countless innocent lives. The immediate and moral solution is a permanent enduring ceasefire, a halt to the bloodshed, a chance for dialogue and a chance for peace. Yet the narrative we hear from the media in Australia and from the major political parties in Australia is one of deliberate, bewildering complexity, a narrative that is designed to obscure the truth about the horrors that are unfolding in Gaza.

This is not a complicated geopolitical puzzle. The stark and clear reality is that innocent people are being slaughtered by the war crimes of the Israeli government. Our government's response should be equally stark and clear. Anything less than an absolute demand for a permanent and enduring ceasefire is playing straight into the hands of the government of Israel, who have lobbied for exactly the kind of equivocation that we are getting from the Australian government.

How many innocent people need to be slaughtered, how many babies need to be mutilated, how many children need to be buried alive before Labor will call for a permanent enduring ceasefire? The failure to demand that ceasefire is an act of complicity.

The acceptance of Zionist sponsored junkets to Israel by journalists and politicians from this country skews the narrative and compromises integrity. The Zionist lobby's playbook is to use the media to attack and undermine pro- Palestine figures here in Australia in a bid to cloud the real issue, which is the destruction of Gaza and the slaughter of the people who live there. The tactics of Zionist lobbies in stifling legitimate debate are egregious and deeply undemocratic.

Voices within Israel itself are raising concerns and criticisms that if they were echoed in Australia would lead to reprimand or targeting by elements of the pro-Israel lobby in this country. The deliberate conflation of any criticism of the state of Israel or the government of Israel's actions with anti-Semitism is grossly intellectually dishonest and deliberately designed to obscure the truth. By labelling legitimate critique and calls for accountability as anti-Semitic, the real and serious issue of anti-Semitism is trivialised.

We can do better, colleagues. We can do better in this place, we can do better in the media and we can do better in the national conversation about what is happening in Gaza. But, whatever we do, we should stand up with moral clarity and we should demand a permanent, enduring ceasefire. In the name of humanity: cease fire now.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator McKim be agreed to.