Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

():  I rise this morning with an open letter to the government from 4,030 Australian healthcare professionals—doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, paramedics, allied health workers, psychologists, dentists and physiotherapists—who've asked me to call on the Albanese government for urgent action on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. I speak as much for them today as much a member of their community as a member of this parliament. The letter reads in part:

As medical professionals dedicated to preserving life and health, we cannot remain silent in the face of the ongoing blockade that is preventing vital medical supplies, food and humanitarian assistance from reaching over two million people in desperate need. The health system in Gaza has collapsed. Hospitals are operating without adequate electricity, medication, surgical supplies, or personnel. Children are dying of malnutrition and dehydration. Families are surviving without clean water, shelter, or access to basic care.

The UN estimates that more than 1000 healthcare workers have been killed in the Palestinian territories since 2023. All healthcare workers in Gaza have been displaced.

We recognise the urgent efforts of humanitarian and medical organisations such as the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA), who are working tirelessly under dangerous conditions to provide life-saving assistance. Their ability to operate is severely hindered by restrictions on movement, access and supply chains.

With my medical professional colleagues, I call on the Australian government to immediately increase funding and logistical support to trusted humanitarian and medical organisations like PANZMA; apply sustained diplomatic pressure to lift the blockade and allow unimpeded delivery of essential medical supplies, food, water, fuel and shelter materials; increase advocacy at the international level, including through the United Nations, for an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire and for the protection of medical workers and facilities in accordance with international humanitarian law; and facilitate emergency relief corridors and allow for the coordinated large-scale distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Health professionals are ethically bound to speak out when human life is threatened on such a scale. Bombing hospitals, targeting medical facilities and murdering medical professionals are war crimes. So the medical professionals of Australia ask this government to act with the urgency and compassion that this crisis demands. We have to act now—lives are depending on it.

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