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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the conflict in Gaza.

The absolutely catastrophic situation in Gaza was described overnight by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in very clear terms. Mr Guterres wrote to the UN Security Council, invoking for the first time in his term article 99 of the UN Charter, which allows him to bring to the attention of the Security Council any event that threatens the security of the world. In his letter, he said he expects public order to completely break down soon due to desperate conditions in Gaza as the territory comes under constant bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces. He wrote that the humanitarian system in Gaza is facing a severe risk of collapse. He said:

The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.

…   …   …

I urge the members of the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared.

He said:

We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system.

And he added:

Amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible.'

Aid organisations say that nowhere in Gaza is safe anymore, there's only a trickle of humanitarian aid getting through and hardly any getting past the Egyptian border.

I asked the minister: given this catastrophe, would we join the calls of the UN for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and increase our aid? Minister Wong's response made me both sad and furious. Our government is so joined at the hip in such a craven alliance with the Israeli state and US imperialism in the Middle East that, despite their war crimes, all we're willing to do is 'support international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire and, if there's a need for more aid, then we would consider it'. We have given $21 million when the estimated need is $1 billion.

This is our government. They represent us on the world stage. Through our government's actions and inactions we are complicit in the war crimes being committed by Israel, both in our unwillingness to call out these crimes and, as Senator Shoebridge made clear in his questioning earlier this week, the sale of over $30 million in arms and ammunition to Israel over the last 15 years, on DFAT's own figures. Not in my name. Not in our name. Not in the name of hundreds of thousands of Australians taking to the streets every week while this war is ongoing.

Why won't we join the UN and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire? The answer Minister Wong gave me was because Hamas is holding hostages. I and the Greens condemn the attacks of Hamas on 7 October and the killing of 1,200 Israelis and call for the release of the hostages, but the UN and all the leading aid organisations who are calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire know too that Hamas is holding hostages and they are calling for their release too. There is no doubt that an immediate and permanent ceasefire would have to involve Hamas and the release of the hostages. It is totally spurious to say that the hostages held by Hamas are the blockage to calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Minister Wong said that we support a just and lasting peace. If there is one thing that is certain, it's that we're further away from a just and lasting peace for Israel and Palestine every day this war continues. Every day we see the ongoing destruction of Gaza and every day we see the killing of women, children and the elderly is a day we are closer to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, closer to genocide in Gaza. Every day we are further from that peace. So I implore our government to join the Greens and the international community in the call for an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire.

I urge all Australians, as we enter the festive season, to keep letting our government know that the government's position is not their position, to remember the people of Gaza and to do everything they can to work for peace. I've had Handala around my neck as a talisman since 7 October. For the people of Gaza I say, 'Sumud.' I send you my love, prayers, determination and hope for a better future.

Question agreed to.