Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in strong support of this motion brought by my colleague and to urge the Australian government to publicly support South Africa's case before the ICJ. The Greens have proudly supported Palestine and will continue to do so. As a proud First Nations person, I join the calls for an immediate end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, for allowing unrestricted humanitarian access and for ending Australia's complicity, which is making Israel's war crimes possible and which is what my colleagues have already spoken about. I stand in solidarity with Palestinian people in their struggle against settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing, and I join the many calls to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and for these rights to be enshrined in international law.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. Over half of these have been children. The deaths also include thousands of women and hundreds of health personnel and journalists. These are just the deaths that we know about. Even more have been injured and even more still displaced. Israel continues to cause massive destruction and severe damage to vital infrastructure facilities in the Gaza Strip. These facilities include schools; industrial facilities; health facilities, including hospitals, clinics and ambulances; mosques; and churches. Water, food, electricity and all humanitarian assistance have been cut off, with the United Nations, the World Health Organization and other international bodies describing this as an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe that is inhumane and amounts to a death sentence.

The history of state sponsored dispossession is one that we are familiar with here in Australia. We, as First Peoples of Australia, continue to live with the colonial legacies of disenfranchisement, poverty and economic devastation that have been imposed on us and manufactured by British, European and US imperialism. Just as my ancestors before us were subjected to massacres, enslavement and oppression, Australia continues to carry an outstanding and ongoing colonial debt that it is yet to settle with the First Peoples, as far back as the invasion of this country.

In recent weeks and months, we have seen an acceleration of Australia's campaign to criminalise and defame those who stand in solidarity with Palestinians. A perfect example was the Invasion Day rallies across Australia on 26 January. Defamed and dehumanised by the media and by politicians, Palestinians and their allies have been actively pursued, targeted and threatened with criminalisation when showing expressions of solidarity, including their national identity and especially the Palestinian flag. I see the many attempts, small and large, to suppress the voice of Palestinians in Australia and make them invisible. First Nations communities right across this country continue to support and stand in solidarity. Join the ICJ case.