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

I seek leave to move a motion to give precedence to general business notice of motion No. 451 relating to Gaza. The motion has been circulated.

Leave not granted.

At the request of Senator Waters, and pursuant to contingent notice, I move:

That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent Senator Waters moving a motion relating to the conduct of business, namely a motion to give precedence to general business notice of motion no. 451.

Today, the Australian Greens are giving the Senate the opportunity to dissent—to oppose the ongoing invasion of Gaza. This week marks a very grim milestone. Nearly 30,000 people in Palestine have perished in the bombardment and invasion at the hands of the State of Israel. Countless more are beneath the rubble of buildings that used to be at the heart of communities in the cities of Gaza City itself, Khan Younis and Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. People have a severe lack of food and water. The last time UN agencies were able to deliver food to northern Gaza was over a month ago. The World Health Organization estimates that 90 per cent of children under the age of two are in severe food poverty.

The Australian government must condemn the invasion of Gaza. People's access to medical aid is dwindling day by day. Much of Gaza's hospitals are now completely closed or have had operations severely limited by the siege. Such is the case in Al-Shifa, where the hospital's oxygen supply plant has been destroyed. Health staff are reported to be digging graves in the grounds of their places of work due to the large numbers of deaths that have occurred or are anticipated and the need to manage the horror of those corpses. The Australian government must condemn the invasion of Gaza. The scale of the human suffering that we are witnessing every night on TV and on social media is unimaginable. But, sadly, because of the actions of the State of Israel in the last three months, these unimaginable scenes have become everyday reality. The government has failed the people of Palestine. The pausing of funding to UNRWA by Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs has cut off vital aid access. All our government have been able to offer in this time are, at best, meaningless words without action, and, at worst, they have made the situation worse. This situation is devastating.

The Australian parliament has the opportunity, in the face of Netanyahu stating once again that he intends an all-out assault on Rafah, to condemn, in no uncertain terms, the actions of the State of Israel. The world has been warning the State of Israel against an assault on Rafah, and the State of Israel has not been listening. Meanwhile, this government continues to sell arms to the IDF and enable them to drop bombs on children, hospitals, schools and refugee camps. This government, in pausing and effectively cutting funding and aid to Palestinians, has furthered the reality that they are on the brink of death, disease and starvation. This government has refused to back an immediate ceasefire that would see the siege ended and the bombing stopped. This government has refused to support the International Criminal Court's investigation into the State of Israel's genocide in Gaza, despite rightfully supporting Ukraine's case two years ago. The government can and must do more. That is why the Greens are calling on the Senate to formally vote to condemn the unequivocal support given to the State of Israel, to remove its support for the invasion of Gaza and to condemn the actions of the State of Israel. These crimes must be condemned. Failure to do so condemns the government.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's of deep regret that the Senate continues to face suspension motions like this from the Greens political party, who are clearly only looking for ways to use this crisis to whip up anger to gain votes. We heard that in the presentation from Senator Steele-John, who perpetuates incorrect statements. We have not sold arms to Israel. We have increased funding for multiple agencies in Palestine. Don't come in here and try to whip it up, as you have done in previous sittings. How about the Senate work together on a pathway for peace and on keeping our community unified? It's clearly not what you want, but that is the responsible approach from an Australian government and an Australian parliament.

We are a respected voice on the conflict in the Middle East, even if we're not a central player in it. The government is using Australia's voice to advocate for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and humanitarian access, the release of hostages and the protection of civilians. If the Greens were really concerned about the crisis in the Middle East, they would be engaged in the discussions for a pathway to peace and keeping our community unified. They continue to reproduce the conflict here to whip up anger and fear and to perpetuate myths in the Australian community because they think there are votes in it for them. I remind the Greens that right now there are 130 hostages still being held by the terrorist group Hamas. They have been since 7 October, when 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in attacks.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thirty thousand Palestinians are dead.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you stop yelling at me, I will go on that we are faced with reports from the UN that 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza are starving and a million are at risk of starvation. An estimated 1.7 million people in Gaza are internally displaced, and there are increasingly few safe places for Palestinians to go.

With the humanitarian situation in Gaza already dire, the casualties from an expanded military operation would be devastating. Australia's message to Israel is to not go down this path. Our position on this is consistent with our position the whole way through this conflict, which has been that international humanitarian law must be respected and civilians must be protected. We have communicated this at a senior level. In recognising Israel's right to defend itself, we have said that the way it does so matters. Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected.

There are more than a million civilians sheltering in and around Rafah. Many civilians who are displaced in Israeli operations in the north have moved to the south to this area, often under Israeli direction. We are not alone in expressing concern at the prospect of an expansive Israeli military operation in Rafah. The United States has said it will be a disaster and should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring safety for the more than one million people sheltering there. Germany has said it would be a humanitarian catastrophe. Canada has said it would have a devastating impact. We have consistently said there is no place in Australia for antisemitism, Islamophobia or prejudice or hatred of any kind. We must all work together to ensure that the distress in our community does not turn into hatred.

An honourable senator interjecting—

Well, the Australian government has made these comments, and I know you say it's just words, Senator Steele-John, but we have made these comments. The foreign minister has made these comments at the highest level. I have made these comments last week at the foreign ministers meeting in Brazil. People are speaking out. People are concerned. What's happening is incredibly distressing. But do you think coming in here and perpetuating myths in this chamber about what the Australian government is doing is going to help one little bit? Do you seriously think so? How about you act like grown-ups and work with us on the serious matters that present in the Middle East—work together on a credible pathway to peace, which is what responsible international actors are doing, speak out against further civilian loss of life and look at ways that we can support the humanitarian efforts in the Middle East? We have increased funding, not decreased it. We are not selling arms to Israel. You should not repeat those claims in this chamber when you know that they are not true. We should all in this chamber work together on that pathway to peace.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition in no way supports either the attempt to suspend standing orders or the motion being put forward by the Australian Greens, which once again is a demonstration of the Australian Greens' one-sided, unbalanced attitude towards these issues and a fixation that comes from the Greens that seems to wish to elevate this conflict above all others that tragically occur around the world and, in doing so, seemingly to ignore the many other challenges and, indeed, tragic loss of life that occur around the world.

There is no doubting the fact that there is a tragedy that has been occurring across Gaza, Palestinian territories, and Israel, elevated to new heights on 7 October. What I note is that nowhere in the motion that the Greens seek to have debated nor in the contribution made by Senator Steele-John was the word 'Hamas' mentioned once. Nowhere in the motion that the Greens seek to have debated nor in the contribution by Senator Steele-John were hostages still held by Hamas referenced once. Not once in the motion or in the contribution to the debate have the Greens even indicated any recognition of what triggered the conflict we see right now—of the horrors that occurred on 7 October. Not once were they mentioned.

But let's bring it from 7 October to more recent times because, just a couple of weeks ago, Israel managed to rescue a couple of those hostages who have been held since 7 October by Hamas. From where did they rescue these hostages? From the Rafah region. Why is this notable? Because it's a demonstration yet again of the way in which Hamas doesn't just target, kill and brutalise Israeli citizens—Jewish peoples—but is also shameless in its use of Palestinians and residents of Gaza as human shields. Why else would hostages have been found in the Rafah region?

Now, we all wish to see the loss of life come to an end. We all wish to see a pathway that can enable Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully side by side. But the prerequisite to being able to live peacefully side by side is to have confidence in the security of that peace, to have confidence and certainty that it will be available so that all peoples can pursue their legitimate aspirations and ambitions in life. That is clearly not possible with Hamas. There is no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza or the future governance of Palestinian peoples. There can be no role for them. As I've said in this place before as we've faced these motions from the Greens, a sustainable ceasefire would be one where Hamas releases the hostages they continue to hold—releases those hostages unconditionally—and surrenders their terrorist operatives and their terrorist infrastructure. It is infrastructure has been demonstrated to be a highly sophisticated network of tunnels built throughout Gaza underneath hospitals, schools and other civilian and public infrastructure—again, a demonstration of Hamas's willingness to use the Palestinian people and Gaza residents as shields for those Hamas terrorists as they seek to wage their bloody, brutal and antisemitic war against Israel.

In the weeks since we last met, other things around the world have happened, too. We've just passed the second anniversary of Russia's bloody and brutal invasion of Ukraine. We've seen increasing insurgency by people in Myanmar against the military junta. But do we see the Greens seek to disrupt Senate proceedings with motions on those or any other conflicts? No, we don't, because they are fixated on this issue—because on this issue they seek to score political points rather than deal with the gravity of what is before us. We won't be a part of it. We continue to support the bipartisan motion this parliament passed following the horrors of 7 October.

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the question be now put.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the question be now put.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question before the Senate is that Senator Steele-John's motion to suspend standing orders be agreed to.