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

First, I want to make some comments about collective decision-making, which goes to the last part of your question. We believe collective decision-making is about a group being more powerful than any one individual. That truth is demonstrated in the history of this nation. Our party in government is the only party that has delivered real progress in Australia on Medicare, the minimum wage and fairness at work, social welfare for older Australians and people with disabilities, paid parental leave, superannuation, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Racial Discrimination Act, the abolition of the White Australia policy, Mabo land rights and the removal of discrimination against LGBTI Australians, and there is so much more. My point is that collective action and decision-making is central to that.

We believe that Labor governments are the ones able to deliver change. This is why no Australian government has ever expressed such strong support for Palestinian statehood as this one. No Australian government has ever done so. It's a position that has faced criticism from those opposite and those who want to support the status quo, but it's a position which reflects the approach that so many in the international community are taking. We also believe that we are not served well as a country by those who seek to bring the conflict here. Nothing you do in this chamber will resolve the conflict, but it does bring the division here. That is the reality, Senator. In relation to the actions taken, I'm happy, in my supplementary, to go through the actions we have taken since October 2023.