David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senators Smith and Fawcett, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes the death, on 28 September 2016, of Mr Shimon Peres, a founding father, staunch defender, former Prime Minister and former President of Israel;

(b) extends its appreciation for Mr Peres' extraordinary lifetime of service to his own nation, and to advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East, which was internationally recognised through his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994; and

(c) expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of Mr Peres and to the people of Israel at the loss of this extraordinary statesman.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leaving aside the astonishing hypocrisy of the coalition, who have consistently denied leave on foreign policy motions and yet seek to introduce one today, it is important to put on the record that Shimon Peres has been described as an architect of Israel's nuclear weapons program, which to this day remains outside the scrutiny of the International Atomic Energy Agency; that he was the father of the settler movement, which involves the confiscation of large swathes of Palestinian land; and that in 1996 he oversaw Operation Grapes of Wrath, which involved the death of 154 civilians in Lebanon and involved the shelling of a United Nations compound, which killed 106 sheltering civilians. While he was awarded a Nobel peace prize in 1994, members of that committee have expressed regret that the prize could not be recalled on the basis of the actions that followed.

Question agreed to.