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

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the 76th anniversary of the Nakba in 1948.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to the contingent notice of motion standing in the name of Senator Waters, I move:

That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the 76th anniversary of the Nakba.

Today marks the 76th anniversary of the Nakba. Nakba is the Arabic word for 'catastrophe', and Nakba Day is observed by Palestinians across the world. The Nakba was the violent displacement, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people. This year this particular day is deeply solemn. Today's day of reflection is happening against the backdrop of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Tens of thousands of civilians are dead. Millions are being actively and deliberately starved, dehydrated and exposed to epidemic disease as a result of the choices and the actions of the State of Israel. As we sit here, the Israel military are dropping bombs and progressing their tanks through Rafah, one of the most densely populated places on the planet due to the forced depopulation of northern Gaza—1. 7 million people.

Seventy-five per cent of all Palestinians, 1.5 million people, in Gaza are now displaced, and this is the area the Israeli military are bombing and this is the area through which Israeli tanks are moving. Millions of people have been forced into an area not much bigger than a Perth suburb under the guise of it being a designated safe area. Well, just last week, dozens were killed in that designated safe zone by the Israeli military—shame. Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have crossed every red line imaginable. The Australian government has done nothing except tell Israel not to go down this path. It is clear that the war cabinet does not care for the weak words of this government—that they have no effect on restraining the bloodshed or devastation. It is time that the Prime Minister and the foreign minister took real, meaningful action.

I have been proud to be part of a movement in this place that has brought the people's protest into this place of power, this place where government officials and ministers could take action. The Australian government must cancel their contract with Elbit Systems. Until they do, they are aiding and abetting genocide. We must sanction Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet, who have made clear that they have no interest in respecting international law or the lives of innocent Palestinians. Crucially, we must expel the State of Israel's Ambassador to Australia because we cannot play a part in or uphold an international rules based order only when it suits us. War crimes must be called out wherever they occur and whoever the perpetrators are.

We are well over six months into this genocide. When is the Australian government going to wake up and actually do something about it? What will it take for you to see that the deaths of thousands of children and the levelling of whole cities is not a limited engagement but the latest series of actions by a state which has been systemically and actively working to rid and to move the Palestinian people from— (Time expired)

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

This is another shameless and shameful Greens stunt. It's another occasion where the Greens come in whilst indicating, of course, to the great suffering of those people in Gaza at present—the great suffering and enormous tragedy of the loss of life—and that far too many civilians have died in the period since 7 October. The Greens do so in a way to seek to divide in this chamber, to seek to wedge, and with a completely one-sided approach.

Does this motion call for the Iranian Ambassador to Australia or a representative to be expelled? No, it doesn't, notwithstanding the fact that Iran sponsored Hamas to undertake the 7 October slaughter of women, children, babies and others, notwithstanding the fact that Iran sponsors Hezbollah to maintain terrorist operations in the northern parts of Israel, notwithstanding the fact that Iran has been sponsoring the Houthi rebels to undertake attacks in the Red Sea and notwithstanding the fact that Iran has provided weapons to Russia to help and aid their attack on Ukraine.

This is a completely lopsided, one-sided, biased resolution from the Australian Greens. It does not deserve the consideration or the support of the Australian Senate. It overlooks the reality that Hamas continue to hold an estimated 130 hostages that they have held since the slaughter, on 7 October last year, of more Jews on a single day than at any time since the Holocaust. They continue to hold those hostages. Some have died whilst being held hostage by Hamas. In ceasefire negotiations, do Hamas agree to release hostages in return for a ceasefire? No, they don't. They stack all manner of other conditions upon that. Do Hamas agree to surrender terrorist infrastructure and terrorist leaders in return for a ceasefire? No, they don't. They are happy to continue to hide behind innocent civilians in Gaza and to let those people suffer and die while they seek to protect their Hamas terrorist leadership and infrastructure capabilities.

There is a pathway to a sustainable ceasefire. It would be for Hamas to unconditionally release its hostages and surrender its terrorist leadership and capabilities. That would actually provide a genuine pathway for a ceasefire, stability and security and for proper negotiations to occur towards a two-state solution that is negotiated and, unlike what the Labor Party is taking Australia's policy position towards, tackles the difficult questions around borders, rights of return, security agreements and other factors that are essential and necessary for there to be enduring peace between Israeli peoples and Palestinian peoples within the region. But we will not be party to this type of stunt by the Greens, this type of one-sided approach by the Greens or this type of divisiveness from the Greens.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson, before you commence your statement, I ask that you, please, either turn around the scarf that you are wearing or remove it altogether. It is against standing orders for you to have any slogans upon your dress. So please do that before I allocate the call to you. Thank you, Senator Hanson.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I totally agree with the opposition's comments with regard to this. This is a stunt. It is unbelievable what the Greens are asking for. What they're asking for in this motion is basically to acknowledge that 'the Nakba was the violent displacement, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people'. I just want to draw attention to what happened between 1948 and 2014 when we talk about ethnic cleansing or displacement of people, especially Jewish people. In Algeria in 1948, there were 140,000 Jews. Today, there are 50. In Egypt, there were 75,000. There are now 100. In Iraq, there were 135,000. There are now 10. In Lebanon, there were 5,000. There are now 100. In Libya, there were 38,000. There are none now. In Morocco, there were 265,000. Now there are 2,150. In Syria, there were 30,000. Now there are 100. In Tunisia, there were 105,000. There are now 1,050. In Yemen, there were 63,000. There are now 50. The Jews were displaced. Bethlehem in 1950 was 80 per cent Christian. Today, it's 80 per cent Muslim. That is over a period of 70 years. So, if you're talking about genocide and displacement, the Jewish people have been treated like this for centuries, for thousands upon thousands of years, by different races and countries.

It breaks my heart to see the same thing happening in our country with the Jewish students who are mistreated on university campuses and to see what is happening on our streets in Australia, with the Palestinian protest marches. I think it's disgusting and should not be allowed. What I see my country coming to now breaks my heart. What these people, regardless of their race—and it's not a race; it is a religion—now have to face in this country is un-Australian. This is an absolute stunt by the Greens, and I get so annoyed to call it out for what it is and to call out the Labor Party for their pathetic attempt to allow the Palestinians onto the UN. It is appalling. It is absolutely appalling to support that, and I'll talk about that more.

What I will say is why can't we just live in peace? You have the problems that are happening in Israel and Palestine. We're not going to solve that. That has to be solved, but you can't solve it with a country that is run by Hamas, which is actually a terrorist organisation. You can't solve it with your stunts here in the Senate. That's not good enough. That's not what the Australian people want. If you really care about the Australian people and what's happening, then don't support these protest rallies that are happening in Australia. Support the people based on the violence that they are facing on their own streets in this country. The youth—you talk about radicalisation. This is all geared at destroying the Western way of life. This is all about destroying our democracy. That's what this is all about. It's not about worrying about what's happening in Palestine. This is a political stunt, and it's being driven by Labor and the Greens who actually support those Muslims in this country purely for the vote. That's what it's about. It's got nothing to do with what's happening over there.

The fight between Israel and Palestine has gone on for centuries. But the Jews have come out here to this country for peace and for a new way of life. Why are they being treated the way that they are? I just don't understand it. Why can't people live in peace in this country? Why can't we stand up and support that? Why do you keep supporting the Palestinians when what we do in this place has got nothing to do with it? You're very one sided in your attitude to the whole thing with Palestine and Israel. But I do support the Jewish people. I support them in having the right to stand up and fight for their own country. If anyone were to invade our nation, where would you stand? What would you do? I can't see the Greens standing up and fighting for this nation if anyone attacked us. Those poor people who were living in peace had their whole lives destroyed. What about them? We never hear about that.

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

The conflict in the Middle East is causing deep distress for many Australians. That is particularly the case for those who have a connection to the region and those who have loved ones who are directly impacted. In Australian government engagements—

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, Minister. Senator Waters?

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

Point of order, Acting Deputy President Cox. You instructed Senator Hanson to remove an article of clothing that had a slogan on it, and she has just replaced it now that the snappers are in the gallery. She is flouting your ruling, and I ask you to ask her to comply with it.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson, there was an instruction for you to remove the scarf with a visible slogan on it, which is against standing orders. So, again, I request that you either turn the scarf around or remove the scarf or leave the chamber.

Senator Hanson, you don't have the call. I have given the instruction. It's not a debate. I would like you to either remove the scarf or leave the chamber. Thank you.

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

In our engagements, the foreign minister presses for progress towards peace in her engagements with counterparts in the Middle East and with partners in Europe, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, in our region and in multilateral forums. As demonstrated by our vote in the United Nations General Assembly, we are using Australia's voice to advocate for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and a pathway out of this conflict. Unfortunately, this motion does not engage with these difficult, sensitive, important questions in the same constructive terms. In fact, this motion is drafted to be absolutist and to be divisive, and it is another example of the Greens political party seeking to divide—taking absolutist positions on a complex issue in an effort to win votes. They are putting their own interests ahead of social cohesion.

I'll make the point here which I made earlier and others on this side of the chamber have made. We gain very little by reproducing the conflict here—by talking past one another, by shouting at one another and by insisting on respective absolutes. There are too many politicians in Australia who are manipulating legitimate, heartfelt community concern for their own ends. The Greens political party is willing to purposely amplify disinformation and exploit distress in a blatant and cynical play for votes. For once I would like them to look at the national interest and whether their actions serve community cohesion or threaten it. At the same time, we see Mr Dutton reflexively dismissing concern for Palestinians as 'Hamas sympathising'. He's asked about the humanitarian catastrophe in Rafah, and he can't even bring himself to mention civilians in the answer.

Australians know that our country needs mature leadership for serious times. Australia's diplomacy and decisions are guided by the principles of peace and seek to advance a lasting peace, which is what we have always said that we will do. There is a need to acknowledge the real trauma on all sides and to acknowledge each other's humanity and to come together, as peacemakers throughout history have done. That is the approach that we take, and it's the approach that we urge community and political leaders in Australia to embrace.

So we don't support the suspension and we don't support the motion, and I move:

That the question be now put.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the question be now put.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question now is that the suspension of standing orders moved by Senator Steele-John be agreed to.