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

The Albanese government has been complicit in genocide and timid as a mouse when it comes to calling out Israel's atrocities in Gaza, but even they must denounce and oppose the outrageous Trump comments today that the US should take over Gaza. I mean, this is nothing short of a call for ethnic cleansing. Will the Albanese government and the PM let this slide, or will they actually come out and condemn this? Trump has also stopped UNWRA funding, frozen US aid and withdrawn the US from the UN Human Rights Council. These decisions are unprecedented attacks on global human rights and on the Palestinian people in their time of greatest need.

The Albanese government must take the strongest stand and forcibly condemn this shameful move instead of sitting idly by, while President Trump makes one disastrous decision after another. Minister Wong should be on the phone to her US counterparts, right now, putting pressure on them to reverse these catastrophic decisions. Labor cannot just wring their hands. Australia must step up where the US is failing by increasing aid to UNWRA and reaffirming our commitment to international law. Silence or inaction in the face of these horrific decisions from the US, which the government calls one of its closest allies, would make Australia party to the suffering that would inevitably follow. Like many around the world, I had tears when the ceasefire was announced. But a ceasefire is not justice. Justice means self-determination and freedom for the Palestinian people so they never have to live under the yoke of Israel or imperial oppression ever again.