Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table the names of 6,747 people who have been massacred by the State of Israel in the last five weeks. These are the only names available that we have at the moment.

Leave not granted.

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for five minutes.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What I am trying to do today is get this chamber to acknowledge the thousands of Palestinians that have been massacred brutally over the last 35 days by the State of Israel. These are the names that you don't want to talk about here. These are the names that you don't want to acknowledge, because, for many, these people are not considered humans. But these are humans. These are children—children a few months old, babies, one-year-olds, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds, five-year-olds, six-year-olds, seven-year-olds, eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds, 10-year-olds. The list just keeps growing. These are hopes and dreams. These are lives completely snatched away from their loved ones. I met with someone yesterday who has had 42 members of their family murdered in Gaza. Yet the Labor government does not have the heart to call for a ceasefire. The Labor government is seeing a child being killed every 10 minutes but won't call for a ceasefire. It is happy to talk weasel words, but weasel words are not going to stop war crimes. You can't even bring yourselves to condemn Israel for the almost 11,000 killings that they have done.

How much cowardice are we going to see from this government? Truly, have a heart; have a head. Get some guts and stop this massacre. There is a chorus from the world and of world leaders who have joined this call for a ceasefire and who can see the inhumanity and the suffering of people being killed every single day. Can you not see that suffering? Can you not see that humanity? Can you not see that depravity by Israel in continuing to carpet-bomb Gaza and continuing to annihilate Gaza? People are asking me: what is wrong with the Labor government? Why can't they see this? Frankly, I don't have an answer for that. I do not have an answer for that, because I cannot comprehend that a government of this country would let this go on and still shield Israel from these war crimes. I cannot comprehend that, and people out there cannot comprehend it either.

I think shaking our heads in here, like the minister at the table, Senator Wong, is doing, and not actually taking the action that you have the power to take is not going to move us any steps towards a ceasefire. And we don't need steps towards a ceasefire. As we take those steps, people are being murdered every single day. So just do it; just call this for what it is—which is collective punishment, which is war crimes, which is apartheid. Just call it for what it is.

There are people out there who are telling us that they don't want to be used as props anymore when the Labor Party come and take photos with us at our religious events—at Eid, at Ramadan, during iftar. They're tired of it; they're tired of being taken for granted. You need to represent the people who elected you to this place. You need to make sure that you listen to their voices, because people are telling me that this government is not. While that is going on, babies, young children, teenagers, women, older people and men are being murdered every single day. Hospitals are under siege. There are babies in incubators who are now dying. Wake up, Labor! Wake up and call for a ceasefire now!

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

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for five minutes.

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

Well, that was quite an inflammatory contribution. It was a hurtful contribution to suggest that somehow the only person in this chamber who cares about lives lost—

I listened to you in silence, Senator Faruqi.

I listened to her in silence, Senator. It was hurtful to suggest the only person in this chamber who cares about the loss of life is Senator Faruqi. That is not the case. We all care about the loss of life. The motion you voted against talked about every innocent life.

This is possibly not the time for a policy discussion, but I noticed in that contribution there was not one mention of terrorism, of Hamas, of hostages. This is not a binary debate. This is a deeply difficult, tragic, complex debate which has a long history and the horrific events of 7 October, and your party declined to support the motion where the parliament condemned them. I would ask the Greens political party to reflect on how they are handling this debate. I would ask them to reflect on whether this is a time when you want to make political differences about political parties or whether this is a time when all of us, as political leaders, might actually need to ensure that we don't amplify the distress and grief that we all know is in our communities—in the Jewish community, too, after the single biggest loss of life since the Holocaust, on any day, as well as in our Palestinian, Arabic and Islamic communities. Maybe our job is not to amplify that distress. Maybe our job is not to foment division in the hope that there is some political advantage. Maybe our job as leaders is to try—

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is to call for a ceasefire.

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

Here we go again. Maybe your job, as a leader, is not to chant a slogan and not to amplify distress into anger and violence, which is what we have seen. Maybe your job—

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Stop the killing and call for a ceasefire.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

as leaders, is to ensure that we do not allow this to divide our country. Our caucus represents the breadth of Australia, and I'm so deeply proud—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Wong, please resume your seat. Senator Faruqi?

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

President, I have a point of order. Senator Wong is casting aspersions and basically insinuating—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Faruqi—

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Could you listen to my point of order, please?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've heard your point of view. Resume your seat. There is no point of order, and I will remind all senators in this place that Senator Faruqi was listened to in respectful silence. I expect that for any other speaker who seeks the call, and that silence needs to come from across the chamber.

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

I would make the point that Senator Faruqi's statement in large part attacked the Labor Party, and now she talks about aspersions. Well, you know what my statement is? I believe leadership is not amplifying distress so that it leads to anger and violence. I believe leadership is trying to hold our country together to unify our community and stand against all forms of prejudice and hatred, because we, as Australians, value and treasure our peaceful community. We treasure unity. We treasure the values of inclusion and acceptance.

I would say to the Greens political party: you have heard what I have said about the suffering of civilians. You have heard what we have said from the beginning about the need for Israel to observe international law. You have also heard us say that any ceasefire cannot be one-sided, because we know what Hamas is. There are legitimate political differences, but to come in here, Senator Faruqi, and suggest that we do not care about people dying is really—you talk about aspersions. It is very distressing to my caucus and, I suspect, to many people around the country.

This is an international crisis. It is a humanitarian catastrophe. We are seeing loss of life which is harrowing—I think that was the word I used. Let us not have politicians here in Australia using this crisis as another issue to campaign on. All of us in this place should remember each other's humanity. We should all remember each other's humanity. We are all Australian. All of us in this place have a job to do, and that is advocating the protection of civilians, working for peace and keeping our country unified.