Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In the last few hours, senators in the US have come out of a classified briefing to Congress, and they've said that it's very clear now that there was no imminent threat and no intelligence—nothing—to justify the US's and Israel's illegal strikes on Iran. Senators are saying as well that the information they've been given behind closed doors is actually leaving them more confused than when they went in as to not only the justification for this illegal war but what the plan is and what the endgame is. They're saying that it's clear that it's not going to make people in the US any more safe. I would argue that it's not going to make Australians, whose government has tied us to the hip of Trump's US government, any more safe either.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency has also confirmed now that Iran was not weeks or days away from having a nuclear weapon. This is sounding very much like a repeat of Iraq, an illegal war started with no justification. When my colleague asked in question time what the government will do to stop big corporations profiteering off Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war, the minister said they're not focused on prices; they're focused, rightly, on getting Australians home. Well, maybe they should have thought about that before they were first out the gate in the world to support an illegal war that is now putting the lives and the travel of Australians at risk. Then the minister went on to say that they agree that ordinary citizens are hurt in conflict. Again, maybe that means that they should have been doing absolutely everything they could to stop the conflict escalating instead of supporting an illegal war which is now spreading across the Middle East. And then the minister said, 'Iran is not Ukraine.' That is outrageous. Are we resorting to vigilantism now? We only follow international law depending on the country that is being bombed? Labor has lost its way, and the Australian public know it, and they see it.

Question agreed to.