Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. Of course, we don't sanction a state; we sanction individuals. And my government has sanctioned individuals. We've sanctioned the Minister for National Security and we have sanctioned the Minister for Finance. We have done so in part based on some of the comments that have been made by them as ministers, people who were on the fringes of Israeli politics but are now a part of the Netanyahu government.

The Minister for National Security said this on 27 July:

… the only thing you should be sending to Gaza is shells to bomb, conquer, encourage emigration and win the war.

That is what they had to say. The range of comments that have been made, including by a soldier who killed a young Palestinian boy, are reprehensible. There are the comments of the Minister for Finance, who has said on 6 May that Gaza will be totally destroyed and its Palestinian population 'will leave in great numbers to third countries'. On 21 April, he said: 'We need to eliminate the problem of Gaza.' On 5 February, he said:

Now, with God's help, we will work to permanently bury the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state.

We don't take these issues lightly. Also, what we don't do is try to secure some domestic political advantage and damage social cohesion in this country, which, frankly, some of the actions of the Greens political have done. What we do is act in a principled way and in a way that is consistent. We condemn Hamas for their actions and we condemn what is occurring in Gaza in breach of international law. That is the way that responsible, adult governments act. That's the way that middle powers can have influence, and that's the way in which we can have a constructive role in what I want to see, which is an end to killing, whether it's of Israelis or of Palestinians. I also want to see the creation of a two-state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security with prosperity.

We'll continue to work with other leaders of like-minded countries around the world with that objective, but I do say that Australians want two things. First, they want innocent people to stop losing their lives. The second thing they want—and I say this directly to the member and her party—is not to have conflict brought here in order to secure some sort of partisan political advantage. They also don't want the agency of those people who are responsible for wrongdoing to be dismissed by suggestions which are simply untrue and that seek to gain a short-term domestic political advantage.

I am a friend of Israel and I am a friend of the Palestinian people. I think that overwhelmingly has been the position of Australia for a long period of time, with our bipartisan support for a two-state solution. I'll continue to do what I can as Australia's Prime Minister to achieve that end.

See this speech in context