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

I seek leave to move a motion relating to Palestine, as circulated in the chamber.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to 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 for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion in relation to Palestine, and give precedence to the motion in relation to that subject.

The Australian Greens motion today is asking the Australian government to take action that is within its control, to place sanctions upon members of the Netanyahu government. This motion is an opportunity for the government to take decisive action and to send a meaningful message that the actions and words of those leading a genocide are not acceptable to our community here in Australia.

Let's be clear. The Australian government uses autonomous sanctions all the time. The question is: why, 300 days into this invasion, has the Australian government not placed sanctions on any individuals responsible for the genocide that is being perpetrated by the State of Israel? The Australian government has placed 703 autonomous sanctions on the Republic of Iran, 568 on Syria and over 1,300 upon the Russian Federation—and, yet, this government is yet to place a single sanction upon any individual responsible for the genocide in Gaza.

Today's motion comes to the Senate in the context of Netanyahu's finance minister, Mr Smotrich, despicably stating that starving two million people 'might be just and moral'. This government has noted that starving millions of people is a war crime, yet we have seen no tangible consequence. Think about that: a senior minister of the Netanyahu government describes starving two million people as something that 'might be just and moral', and there is no sanction from the Australian government—no tangible consequence. The global community is demanding action. The International Court of Justice handed down an advisory opinion that stated clearly that the State of Israel's continued presence in the occupied territories is unlawful. To comply with this ruling, the Australian Centre of International Justice has called on the Australian government to take decisive action, including applying targeted sanctions and imposing an arms embargo.

The genocide has been going on for over 300 days. That's 300 days of war crimes, and over 40,000 Palestinian people have been killed in that time. The community expects the Australian government to do what is in its control—to say, 'Enough is enough.' The motion today would draw a clear line in the sand. The individuals who are responsible for perpetrating genocide are to face consequences for their actions. Today the Greens and the community ask senators to vote yes to recognising the State of Israel's actions for what they are—war crimes and crimes against humanity—and to demand that their perpetrators be held accountable. The Australian government must cancel their contracts with weapons and arms manufacturers such as Elbit Systems. We must expel the State of Israel's ambassador to Australia. We must sanction Prime Minister Netanyahu and his security cabinet, and we must keep calling for peace until we have a permanent ceasefire.

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

This is yet another piece of one-sided grandstanding by the Greens for their own political purposes. What we have here today is a suspension of standing orders to allow debate on a motion which doesn't mention Hamas, which doesn't mention the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist network, and which doesn't call for hostages to be released. The context in which the Australian Greens seek to suspend standing orders to debate this stunt today is that this week the Islamic Republic of Iran regime is broadcasting its intention to mount a massive attack on Israel and Israeli civilians. The IRI regime is openly stating its intent to do so in coordination with designated terrorist organisations Hezbollah and Hamas—once again putting the civilians of Gaza and Lebanon in danger, as those terrorist groups fire rockets from within civilian areas and hide beneath civilian homes to use innocent people as human shields.

Any reasonable and responsible person knows and accepts that since 7 October the Islamic Republic of Iran has used its terror network to put the lives of civilians in danger, not just in Israel but also in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. Yet, as the IRI openly threatens to massively escalate this war, today we have the Greens once again coming into the Senate and seeking to suspend standing orders with a one-sided stunt designed to appeal to their political base, which attacks Israel at every opportunity. It is a sign that, again, the Greens seek to foster division in Australia for their own political advantage and to grandstand on an issue that indeed does involve enormous human tragedy.

None of us like to see this loss of civilian life and the tragedy that has occurred. We all wish to see a peaceful end to this conflict, but a peaceful end means that hostages must be released and that the terrorists must be disarmed. Of course, we must demand an end to the repeated threats from the IRI regime to eradicate Israel, which are even being circulated here in Australia. Instead of making those necessary and important points, this attempt by the Greens to suspend standing orders today completely ignores them. This is an attempt to focus the news cycle on anti-Israel sentiment at the exact same time that the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah are plotting a potentially catastrophic attack on a democratic partner of Australia.

Israel is a democracy. That means there is democratic accountability at the ballot box for elected officials, their statements and their actions, and there are legal processes in place for those who are alleged to have broken the law. But what the Greens are attempting to do here is suspend the standing orders of this chamber to pronounce judgement on officials in another democracy, while simultaneously refusing to reference in any respect the terrorist actions of the IRI regime of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The bipartisan motion that both chambers of this parliament passed last October unequivocally condemned the terrorist attacks of 7 October on Israel by Hamas, including the targeting and murder of women and children, the taking of hostages and the indiscriminate firing of rockets. These attacks resulted in the biggest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust. Hamas still holds around 120 hostages captive, and Hamas hides those hostages, just as it hides its terrorist militias and terrorist military equipment amongst Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure, increasing the tragic toll on innocent Palestinians. Hamas and supporters in Hezbollah continue to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israel, seeking to inflict maximum pain and death on Israel's civilians and soldiers alike. They and their supporters in Iran continue to call for the death of all Jews and for Israel's destruction. No nation could or would live with this sort of threat to its citizens.

In our bipartisan motion last October, the chambers of this parliament resolutely made clear that we stand with Israel and we recognise its inherent right to defend itself. We acknowledged the devastating loss of Israeli and Palestinian life and that the innocent civilians on all sides are suffering as a result of the attacks by Hamas and the subsequent conflict. This motion made clear Australia's support for humanitarian access to Gaza, the protection of civilian lives and the observance of international law, and that remains the position of the coalition.

Israel has every right to defend itself in response and to deter future attacks and other acts of aggression, coercion and interference.

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

The government does not support this suspension of standing orders, and, as we've said a number of times, there are ample opportunities in this chamber to pursue arguments in relation to the conflict in the Middle East if the Greens should choose to do so. We have MPIs and urgency motions—a whole range of time and daily allocation that could be used—and a suspension will not be supported by the government.

I would say, since we've last met in this place, I think everyone in this place and, indeed, around the country has watched with concern and horror at the continuing conflict in the Middle East and at some of the escalation that we've seen happening in the Middle East. The government has made its position very clear on a number of occasions, including three Fridays ago, in a joint statement with Canada and New Zealand, about its views around what's happening in that part of the world. The deaths and devastation in Gaza cannot continue, and the escalation that we're seeing in that region makes a ceasefire even more urgent, if that's possible. We condemn the unacceptable deaths of innocent civilians as a result of Israel's operations in recent weeks, and we have been calling for a ceasefire for nine months now. We've called on parties to immediately agree to President Biden's UNSC endorsed ceasefire proposals, and we acknowledge that civilians are caught in the middle and that they must be protected. At the same time, hostages must be released, and humanitarian access must be increased.

But let's be clear about what this suspension from the Greens is all about; it's for Australia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel altogether. There are 160 countries with diplomatic relations with Israel. We have diplomatic relations because it is in our interests to do so, because this is how we put our views and advance our interests in the international community. We've put our view that we need an immediate ceasefire, an increase in humanitarian access, the release of hostages and the prevention of regional escalation. We've put our view that Israel must adhere to international humanitarian law and that civilians must be protected. This includes when we joined with partners in condemning the comments by the Israeli finance minister about starving civilians, because the deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime.

On the subject of sanctions, the government has already imposed sanctions on several Israeli extremists and will deny anyone identified as an extremist settler a visa to travel to Australia. As for further sanctions, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises that no countries have applied the sanctions that the Greens have called for. Moreover, governments never speculate on sanctions, which the Greens know, but they have decided to play political games with this issue. They are trying to reproduce the conflict here for their own gain, as other members of this government have drawn to the public's attention, despite all the warnings about the cost to our community from taking this approach. The international community is trying to dial down the temperature in the Middle East. It would be nice if some in this chamber tried the same approach. I move:

That the question be put.

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

The question is that the closure motion as moved by Senator Gallagher be agreed to.

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

I'll now put the suspension motion as moved by Senator Steele-John. The question is that the motion to suspend as moved by Senator Steele-John be agreed to.