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

The seventh of October 2023 was a day of pain and terror for Jewish people around the world. When our parliament first gathered in the aftermath, the shock of what Hamas terrorists had perpetrated was still raw and growing with each new and devastating detail. Their attack on a music festival that promoted 'friends, love and infinite freedom', an event attended by so many young people, underlined a core truth: Hamas stands in opposition to all humanity and all that we value as human beings.

Two years on, we remember those who were lost on that day, the largest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust—over 1,200 lives taken without mercy. We remember Australian Galit Carbone, who was tragically among them. Galit's brother, Danny Majzner, joins us in the gallery today, and I will meet with him tomorrow. I say to him: we hold you in our hearts. We also hold in our hearts all who are still being held hostage—those who remain alive and those who tragically had not only their freedom stolen from them but their lives as well. We stand with their families and all those who wait. We stand with all those who endure loss. We stand with all those who endure hope—all who have had to hold this two-year vigil, which must feel like an eternity. Even now, as President Trump presents us with an opening to peace, we owe it to all of them to never forget what was done. Hamas sought to kill and to terrify. They planned a nightmare of scarcely comprehensible cruelty and made it a reality. The Australian government stands with Jewish people around the world who feel the cold shadow of history's darkest chapter in any act of antisemitism. We will always stand against antisemitism, as should everyone. We must break this cycle of violence and build something better.

Australia has consistently been part of the international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, for the return of the hostages, for aid to flow and for a two state solution. Australia welcomes President Trump's plan to bring peace to Gaza after almost two years of conflict and a devastating loss of civilian life—a plan that calls on Hamas to lay down its arms and to immediately release all remaining hostages. In our original motion here in 2023, carried with the support, bipartisanly, of both parties of government or potential government, we explicitly recognised that Hamas does not recognise the Palestinian people or their legitimate needs and aspirations. We have never wavered from that stance. That is the only path to enduring peace and security in the Middle East—a future without Hamas and a future that encompasses two states, the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, living side by side within internationally recognised borders and recognising each other's right to live in peace and security. That is the possibility of the future that is before us. It is our duty to do everything in our power to seize it.

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