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

The death of Zomi Frankcom and her six WCK—World Central Kitchen—colleagues should not have occurred. I have said that clearly many times on behalf of our country to Israel and to the international community. Her tireless work to improve the lives of others should never have cost her life. We have made clear on more than one occasion our expectation that there should be transparency about Israel's ongoing investigation. We continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate criminal charges. Most recently, the Prime Minister and I personally raised this matter with President Herzog, and we will continue to advocate on the family's behalf.

At the UN General Assembly last year, we honoured the life of Zomi Frankcom by launching the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, and I thank her brother for being with us on that day. Australia brought together more than a hundred countries to commit to real protections for the people risking their lives to save others. This is about bringing the world together to protect people who risk everything to save innocent lives in war zones. I might make a comment. I don't know if I'm going to be asked this, but I saw some comments in relation to the audio recording. I want to make it very clear to the chamber that we have made representations during and since the Binskin report to Israel on this matter on behalf of the family. We will continue to engage and consult Ms Frankcom's family on their requests.