Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I would make the point that Senator Faruqi's statement in large part attacked the Labor Party, and now she talks about aspersions. Well, you know what my statement is? I believe leadership is not amplifying distress so that it leads to anger and violence. I believe leadership is trying to hold our country together to unify our community and stand against all forms of prejudice and hatred, because we, as Australians, value and treasure our peaceful community. We treasure unity. We treasure the values of inclusion and acceptance.

I would say to the Greens political party: you have heard what I have said about the suffering of civilians. You have heard what we have said from the beginning about the need for Israel to observe international law. You have also heard us say that any ceasefire cannot be one-sided, because we know what Hamas is. There are legitimate political differences, but to come in here, Senator Faruqi, and suggest that we do not care about people dying is really—you talk about aspersions. It is very distressing to my caucus and, I suspect, to many people around the country.

This is an international crisis. It is a humanitarian catastrophe. We are seeing loss of life which is harrowing—I think that was the word I used. Let us not have politicians here in Australia using this crisis as another issue to campaign on. All of us in this place should remember each other's humanity. We should all remember each other's humanity. We are all Australian. All of us in this place have a job to do, and that is advocating the protection of civilians, working for peace and keeping our country unified.