Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Minister, for the response to Senator Shoebridge's question. Your response, however, begs the question of whether the executive is going to make decisions without the oversight of parliament or indeed without even consulting this very special, highly acclaimed parliamentary committee before not just participating in some type of conflict or military intervention but offering support. Does this committee have any insight or ability to know and to ask the question of the executive as to whether a particular military intervention is even legal? What we've seen in the last 48-to-72 hours in the Middle East is an attack launched by the United States and Israel that is indeed illegal under international law. And every time an Australian journalist has asked the Prime Minister, the defence minister or anybody else in the government whether this new Trump led war is legal, they get dismissed, and the question gets deferred off to the United States. I don't need to ask the United States whether this is legal or not. Every legal expert in the world is saying it isn't. The United Nations has said it's not. Your government knows it's not, and that is why you refuse to even engage with the question. What is the point of having a parliamentary committee of such supreme power and importance if they can't even get some basic parameters about whether Australia is backing an illegal war or not?