Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that the President has received the following letter, dated 26 March, from Senator McKim:

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:

The State of Israel's non-compliance with the International Court of Justice is evident in the blocking of aid into Gaza and the Australian government must take action to compel the State of Israel to comply with orders of the ICJ and allow aid into all parts of Gaza at the scale needed."

Is 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:

The State of Israel's non-compliance with the International Court of Justice is evident in the blocking of aid into Gaza and the Australian government must take action to compel the State of Israel to comply with orders of the ICJ and allow aid into all parts of Gaza at the scale needed.

The matter of urgency put forward by the Australian Greens calls on the Senate to acknowledge the State of Israel's noncompliance with the orders of the International Court of Justice as evidenced in the continued blocking of aid provision to Gaza. Human Rights Watch has told the world, clearly, as have so many international aid organisations—and it's clear from the lived experience of Gazans on the ground—that the State of Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war. If we want more evidence of this we need look no further than the reality of the horror of children literally wasting before our eyes right now in Gaza.

On the issue of the State of Israel's noncompliance with the orders of the International Court of Justice, who said clearly that the State of Israel must allow aid to reach the innocent civilians of Gaza—the children of Gaza who need food now. We need look no further than the reality that in the three weeks after the order of the court, less aid was delivered to the north of Gaza than in the three weeks leading up to the order of the court.

As we sit here today, as a direct result of the policies of the State of Israel over 30,000 Palestinians are dead, millions have been displaced and starvation, disease and dehydration continue not only to be the everyday reality of the people of Gaza but the explicit policy of the State of Israel, wielded as a weapon of war. It is vital that Australia takes action to compel the State of Israel to comply with the orders of the ICJ and allow aid into all parts of Gaza at the scale it is desperately needed.

Overnight, the United Nations Security Council passed a motion that reiterated a demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law. The motion, uniting much of the world, expressed deep concerns about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and emphasised the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance and to reinforce the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The Greens are calling on the Senate today and we urge all members of this place to vote to implore the Australian government to do all it can to promote a permanent, ongoing ceasefire in Gaza and to get urgent humanitarian aid to all who need it in Gaza.

Australia needs to play an active, engaged and constructive role in the creation of a lasting and just peace for Palestinians and Israelis. The Australian government must stop exporting arms to Israel. The Australian government must sanction the Prime Minister of the State of Israel and his war cabinet for the war crimes, crimes against humanity and, arguably, crimes of genocide which are the explicit policies of his cabinet and his government. And Australia must join with South Africa in supporting their genocide case against the State of Israel at the ICJ. The time is now for the Australian government to join with the Australian community, to discover the courage that lives within the Australian community, and to bring that courage into being, to champion it and its humanity in the spaces that we occupy on the global stage.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

Omit all words after "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency", substitute:

(a) that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is catastrophic and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving;

(b) that all parties to the conflict in Gaza comply with the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) demand in relation to ceasefire;

(c) that immediate action must be taken by Israel to comply with the UNSC's demand that all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale are removed;

(d) that Hamas comply with the UNSC's demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs; and

(e) that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including orders of the International Court of Justice which are binding.

Colleagues, today we have an opportunity to come together in the Australian Senate in our common humanity. I say to senators that, if even the United Nations Security Council, which has been so divided on this issue and on many issues, can come together on this issue, surely the Australian Senate can. The world has finally got to a point where not one of the permanent members of the Security Council exercised a veto on a resolution about the conflict in Gaza—not the United States, as they have on previous resolutions, nor Russia or China, who vetoed a US resolution last week. So I say to my Senate colleagues that there is an opportunity for the Australian Senate to acknowledge this as a rare moment of agreement in the international community. Indeed it would be churlish of us not to.

I know that this motion may not reflect every aspect of all our positions on these issues, but there is enough here to agree on. I ask senators to look for the points that are in front of them. Whether senators consider themselves a friend of Israelis or Palestinians or both, as I do, we should be able to come together in agreeing on the urgency of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. When hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are starving, we should be able to come together to underline the urgency of an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, leading to a sustainable ceasefire as per the UN Security Council resolution; we should be able to come together to demand Hamas comply with the Security Council's demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages; and we should be able to come together to demand that the Netanyahu government comply with the Security Council's demand that all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale are removed.

If the divided United Nations Security Council could come together on these issues then we ought to be able to do likewise. If countries as different as Algeria, Ecuador, France, the United Kingdom and others can agree on these points, then we ought to be able to do likewise. Not a single country voted against this resolution, and we should recognise what it means that not one of the permanent five members of the Security Council stood in the way.

Right now we are faced with reports from the United Nations that 650,000 Palestinians in Gaza are starving and well over a million are at risk of starvation. Right now more than 1.7 million people in Gaza are internally displaced. There are, as I have said, increasingly few safe spaces to go. Right now there are more than 130 hostages still being held by the terror group Hamas, and we condemn Hamas's actions as we have always done.

Colleagues, the Australian Senate has an opportunity to come together in support of the United Nations resolution and in support of international humanitarian law. This is a good thing. This has been a very difficult conflict in Australia. There have been too few moments when we have been able to come together. I respectfully submit to the Senate that this is a time when we can do so. If the UN Security Council can do it, surely this country can do it too. I move:

That the question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question now is that Senator Wong's amendment to the motion be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

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

I seek leave to move an opposition amendment to the amended urgency motion.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is leave granted?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is whether the question of Senator Birmingham's amendments will be put at the end of the 30 minutes?

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Anything before the chair will be put at the conclusion of the debate. Is leave granted?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If Senator Birmingham doesn't put the question straightaway, we don't have to move to suspend.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am in the hands of the Senate.

Leave not granted.

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

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in my name, I seek leave to suspend so much of standing orders as is necessary to allow me to move an amendment to the amended urgency motion. I do note the significance of the passage overnight of a UN Security Council resolution given the lengthy period of debate and number of failed resolutions during that time.

I also note that, fairly swiftly following the passage of that UN Security Council resolution, the instigators of the 7 October terrorist attacks that precipitated the conflict we have seen in Gaza since that time—namely, Hamas—were quick not only to welcome that resolution but also to ignore key aspects of that resolution, a resolution that calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The response of Hamas was to not accept the call for the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages but, instead, to suggest they would entertain that in some type of prisoner swap arrangement, such was the contempt with which Hamas greeted the resolution from the United Nations.

We acknowledge the government in putting forward a resolution seeking to reflect much of the UN Security Council resolution; however, it is the opposition's view that that does not say enough. It does not say enough to reflect the totality of the UN Security Council resolution nor does it say enough about the totality of what should be Australia's clear, unequivocal moral conviction in this conflict. That is why I present and seek leave to move amendments in this chamber, amendments which would better reflect the UN Security Council resolution—namely, that the call for a ceasefire was for an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, a ceasefire that would secure the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and that that can then lead to a sustainable ceasefire.

We also seek to ensure that it is appropriately reflected that access for humanitarian assistance, which we wish to see flow to those who are suffering immensely in Gaza, requires the cooperation of all parties. Hamas has been filmed and recorded looting and stealing humanitarian assistance for their own purposes, so to place a moral judgement on one party in this conflict rather than reflecting that all parties must play a role in the provision of humanitarian assistance would be improper. We also seek to give this Senate the opportunity to restate critically the expectation that Hamas must lay down its arms and can have no role in the future governance of Gaza. These are points that the government has made previously, these are points that Australia should stand by and these are points that the coalition unreservedly stands by.

We also, in acknowledging the horrific terrorist attacks of 7 October, believe it is critical that, when discussing these matters, the Senate again reinforces its unconditional condemnation of Hamas for its heinous terrorist attacks and recognises Israel's inherent right to defend itself. The suffering and the loss of life have been immense. It has been well and truly a result of Hamas's terrorist attacks and of Hamas using the Palestinian people and people across Gaza as human shields behind which they hide their terrorist operatives, their terrorist infrastructure and their terrorist capabilities. Hamas's actions have compounded that loss of innocent life in Gaza, as they affected the loss of innocent life in Israel and as they continue to immorally hold hostages from those 7 October attacks. I urge the Senate to give us the right to move these amendments and to have them incorporated into this motion.

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

After the ICJ's damning orders to Israel two months ago, Australia's responsibility was clearer than ever. The government must do everything in its power to force Israel to stop its genocidal slaughter and allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians immediately. Yet for two long months we saw children in Gaza succumbing to dehydration, hunger and malnutrition forced upon them by Israel. The Labor government refused to take any action.

We haven't just seen a gross failure by the Labor government to hold Israel to account; we have seen something far worse—an utterly despicable continuation of their support and arming of Israel's genocide and a toxic gaslighting and undermining of those calling out Labor's failures and demanding justice for Palestine, as if suspending UNRWA funding without a shred of evidence was not ruthless enough and as if arming Israel with military equipment to massacre Palestinians indiscriminately and bomb Gaza to dust was not criminal enough. Now, 170 days into Israel's genocide, with more than 32,000 Palestinians killed and over a million Palestinians being deliberately starved, Israel has said that it will entirely block UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza, and yet till today we had heard nothing but utter silence from this shameful government—no action, not even a response, only their continued support for Israel's genocide.

After voting against every single motion the Greens have put up on Palestine, today the Labor government has been dragged to accept the bare minimum—that Israel must comply with the UNSC and Israel must allow aid into Gaza. The Greens and the community have dragged the Labor Party kicking and screaming to finally join our call to demand that Israel lift all barriers to the provision of humanitarian aid, but don't expect applause or kudos for being forced to do what you should have done from day one. Why has it taken so long, when for months it's been clear that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war? Rates of acute malnutrition amongst children in northern Gaza and Rafah have doubled in just one month, and the World Health Organization has warned of intergenerational malnutrition. Such is the level of food scarcity that, in northern Gaza, one bag of flour can sell for over $500.

For weeks it's been beyond doubt that Israel is intentionally obstructing humanitarian assistance. Even the low numbers of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, meeting only a fraction of the need, are delayed an average of 20 days at the border, and essential supplies like generators, purifiers and medical supplies are confiscated. This is a brazen and criminal violation of a clear order from the ICJ for Israel to ensure aid reaches Palestinians under siege in Gaza. I'm sure I speak for many when I say we do not want a government that supports Israel's slaughter and forced starvation of Palestinians. Labor, your support of Israel's genocide is not in our name, and, come election time, I hope you're ready for a reckoning on your failures on Palestine.

The Labor Party stands fully exposed to the community. You can roll your eyes. You can accuse us of causing division when we demand justice for Palestine. You can pathetically paint yourselves as victims. But no-one is fooled. The community can see right through it. You are on the wrong side of history. Let it be clear that you still haven't committed to ending weapon and military trade with Israel. You still refuse to call for an end to Israel's genocide and apartheid. You still refuse to condemn Israel. You still refuse to hold Israel accountable. You still use pathetic and passive language like 'humanitarian catastrophe' as if it's an earthquake and not a mass slaughter of Palestinians by Israel. Call a genocide what it is: a genocide. We will keep holding up a mirror to you, we will keep speaking out and we will keep protesting until Palestine is free.

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

Last month the ABC reported on a family in Gaza who were eating bread made from animal feed and tea made from sticks. This was the only nourishment that they had to offer their desperately hungry children. The family reportedly made the bread after purchasing what they thought was a small bag of milled flour at an inflated price, but the flour turned out to be donkey food. This is the reality of life and death in Gaza.

Children and young people are the worst off. A UNICEF report found that, in January, 15 per cent of children under the age of two in northern Gaza were acutely malnourished and almost three per cent were close to death. This starvation is man-made, directly caused by the Israeli government's systematic bombing to smithereens of Palestinian land, people and resources and by the blocking of critical aid into Gaza. The Israeli government is not just defying the ruling of the International Court of Justice to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide; it is actively accelerating and intensifying that genocide. Israel has barred UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest. UNRWA described this as outrageous, noting that this is intentional obstruction of life-saving assistance during a man-made famine.

Yet the Australian government has dragged its heels. I'm glad that the government has agreed to the sentiments in their amendment to our motion, but there is so much more that the government could and must be doing. How many more Palestinians must perish? How many more children must starve? How many more people must be displaced before this government acts upon its responsibility to actively work to stop the crime of genocide?

The Greens are calling on the government to, as well as call for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid, stop all military trade and cooperation with Israel, to impose sanctions on the entire Israeli war cabinet, to stop the transfer of information from Pine Gap that is supporting Israeli military operations—including, presumably, information supporting where to guide their missile strikes that are killing Palestinians—and to investigate for war crimes Australians who have served with the Israel Defense Forces in their genocidal war.

This is likely to be my last speech in this place about justice and freedom for Palestinians, but I can assure you that my campaigning, along with that of all of us Greens and the millions of people across the Australian community, will continue until Palestine is free.

Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the question be now put.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the question be put.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senators, the time for the debate has expired. The motion to suspend the standing orders has lapsed in accordance with the precedents at page 246 of Odgers'Australian Senate Practice. I'm going to put the question. The question is that the motion moved by Senator Steele-John, as amended on the motion of Senator Wong, be agreed to.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, around 120 activists in Melbourne established a community picket of Victoria International Container Terminal, stopping work at the terminal for over five hours and causing delays to two ships supplying exports to Israel. On Gadigal country over the weekend, 19 people were arrested for protesting a genocide and blocking a ZIM Israeli ship arriving at Port Botany.

I want to send a message of solidarity to the community organisers, individuals and groups—like Unionists for Palestine, Block the Dock, Sit-Intifada and Action 4 Rafah—who are standing up against an increasingly violent and aggressive police force to call for justice and an end to the genocide. Your efforts have built working-class solidarity and understanding across the community. We've seen horrific images of police brutality towards peaceful protesters. The brutality of police against the community reminds us that they are here to protect those at the top.

This Labor government continues to ignore, deflect and dodge questions about the support they're giving to genocide in Gaza and the profits they're making from it, with appalling responses that offer us no transparency, no accountability and no truth-telling. Resistance in this country has a long history, from the frontier wars to today. Together, we will continue to fight for an end to genocide here and in Palestine, for justice and for peace.