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

As I said, I think we all understand that what Senator Faruqi wants most of all is attention, and it may well be that her move is designed to show her Greens base that she's more hardline than the current leader.

What we know is that Senator Faruqi and the Greens ignore the facts. They ignore facts that get in the way of their political agenda. They ignore the sanctions Australia has imposed, just as they ignore the work we are doing to provide humanitarian support. They call for us to provide aid to Gaza, ignoring the fact that we have committed $110 million in aid for civilians in Gaza and Lebanon, and they ignore that we are part of many countries internationally working together to put pressure on Israel for aid to flow unimpeded. Senator Faruqi demands that we airdrop aid into Gaza, ignoring that we did contribute to airdrops in the past. But she also ignores that many aid organisations have since made clear that this isn't an efficient way or a safe way to deliver aid to people in need.

The reality is that this is a very difficult conflict. I have often spoken in this place about the need for all of us to be responsible about how we deal with it here. I also would say to the Senate: we have moved this motion because we do not believe that this institution should be denigrated in the way that it was. All of us have a personal responsibility and a collective responsibility to uphold standards. It's not as if Senator Faruqi doesn't have a voice. (Time expired)