Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table a list of names of children killed in Gaza.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is leave granted?

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

No.

Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in my name, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me tabling the document.

I don't know what the problem is with putting out two volumes of 17,000 names of children that Amnesty International have provided to me. They have collated the number of children. They're not anonymous casualties. They're not human shields. They are children. They were toddlers who were learning how to walk. These are children and teenagers, dreaming to work, to study, to make something, to contribute and to become doctors, artists and footballers. It was absolutely heartbreaking to read out the names of 17,000 children last week—which takes roughly 22 hours, if anyone wants to commit to it—and it's heartbreaking now to not be given the opportunity to table this document, which simply states the names, the ages and the genders of these 17,000 children.

We know that, so far, over 186,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Lancet journal. This is the least we can do to honour and remember the children who were mercilessly killed in this genocide. The only ask that we have of the government is to cut ties with genocide. It's very welcoming to see the Prime Minister call Israel's actions indefensible and, three hours ago, say that he called Netanyahu's denial of causing absolute starvation 'beyond comprehension'. That is the exact quote from the Prime Minister. It's very heartening for somebody who has been speaking out against this genocide from day dot to see that our government are finally strengthening their word. They're starting to move, albeit very slowly.

Nonetheless, we would love to see—it's desperate times—the government not only issue comments and condemnations about how Israel needs to stop this genocide; we also want a ceasefire. I acknowledge that the government committed $10 million in June. We need to see that translated on the ground. Children and people in Palestine are starving. They're on the brink of being eliminated, and what are we seeing? I can't even table these names.

I could literally just read some. You know what? I'll just read some, because we can't table this. I am hoping that the government is going to join me in suspending standing orders to allow me to table this document. Some of their names are: Adham Ahmed Mohammed Abd Rabbo, 12 years old; Nasr Ihab Nasr Al-Turk, 13 years old; Said Osama Sami Ismail, 10 years old; Dima Ibrahim Mohammed Muharib, 17 years old; Siwar Jihad Abdullah Abu Rikab, six years old; Abdullah Mohammed Mousa Asaliya, four years old; Mohammed Hassan Ziyad Abu Shamala, less than a year old; Ahmed Basel Ramadan Abed, three years old; Kamal Hammam Kamal Abu Asfa, two years old; Adam Mohammed Riyad Assaf, one year old; Dana Ahmed Rafiq Abu Zour, seven years old; Mohammed Mahmoud Yousef Al-Hassi, two years old; Amal Ali Zuhair Salem, three years old; Tuleen Alaa Adel Hajaila, 12 years old; and Yamen Osama Hassan Al-Qatshan, 16 years old.

These are children. I don't understand why I cannot table the names of these children mercilessly killed by Netanyahu. (Time expired)

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition will not support the suspension of standing orders to enable the tabling of this document. It's purportedly a list of more than 17,000 children killed in Gaza, compiled and published by an organisation that draws its data directly from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is an arm of the listed terrorist organisation Hamas. The coalition does not deny leave lightly. Every civilian death, especially that of a child, is a tragedy, and every innocent life lost is a human catastrophe. But we cannot trust information from the Gaza Ministry of Health to be tabled in the Australian Senate. The Gaza Ministry of Health is under the control of the listed terrorist organisation Hamas. Where a senator of this parliament seeks to table such a document, especially one compiled by an activist collective sourcing from Hamas, it gives an implicit endorsement to the legitimacy of that information. This is something that the coalition cannot support. This parliament should grieve the loss of innocent life, but it should do so on the basis of verifiable, credible information. It should do so in a way that upholds our values and maintains a clear line between democratic institutions and terrorist information.

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

The Greens are extremely disappointed that the opposition has refused to allow Senator Payman to table this list of 17,000 children's names—the names of children who are now dead, innocent children who have died in this brutal war, this brutal attack on innocent civilians and families—and we are disappointed to hear that pathetic excuse from the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. If you can't bring yourself to even acknowledge, let alone condemn, the killing of innocent children, nothing will ever melt your heart, ever. It is just abhorrent that, day after day, all we hear from the opposition on this topic is excuse after excuse after excuse and justifications for the murder of children, the starvation of children and using children as weapons in war.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, you are getting very close to, if not well overstepping, the mark of reflecting on others in the chamber.

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

Are you taking your own point of order?

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

No-one took a point of order, because there is no point of order.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Shoebridge, the chair can rule. That is just ridiculous, quite frankly. Senator Allman-Payne?

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

Chair, there was no reflection on any individual member of parliament. It was on a party. That is not a point of order.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Actually, previous presidents' rulings say that reflecting on groups in this chamber is as bad as, if not worse than, reflecting on an individual. Senator Hanson-Young has the call.

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

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. I will not stand here and be lectured to by a political party that refused to acknowledge, let alone condemn, the murder and slaughter of innocent children and the starvation of children. If the opposition cannot bring themselves to acknowledge this suffering at this moment, they have absolutely misread not just public opinion but their role as legislators and as leaders in this community. I support, as do the rest of my party, the tabling of these names.

I'd just add one more thing: the reason why this is an important document to be tabled is that the independent organisation that has brought this list of names to this place is the apolitical, internationally recognised organisation Amnesty International, which is not associated with any political party. They gathered on the lawns of Parliament House last week, and they invited every single one of us down there to participate in the acknowledgement and reading out of the names of these innocent children. All of the Greens senators were there, and I know a number of other members of both houses were there. If we can't even bring ourselves to acknowledge that powerful statement and that call to action for leadership and compassion in this place, then we may as well pack up and go home.

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

I thank Senator Payman for going through the usual processes to reach out to parties to request support for leave to be granted for a non-conforming petition. The government indicated to Senator Payman we would give leave. Consistently with that, we will support the suspension of standing orders to enable the petition to be tabled.

The second point is in response to Senator Cash, who does not agree with the content of the petition. I would make the point to her that, as a matter of Senate convention, there are many non-conforming petitions which are tabled in this place. She could have agreed to allow this to be tabled, just as others have, even if she takes issue with its contents.

The third point I would make is this: we can't avert our eyes from what is happening in Gaza. We cannot avert our eyes from the fact that we see a humanitarian catastrophe. We cannot pretend, as some seem to wish to, that tens of thousands of innocent people have not been killed in this conflict. It is true: Hamas is a terrorist organisation dedicated to the destruction of the State of Israel. But that is not an answer to the fact that the government of Israel has made a decision to withhold food and supplies entering Gaza. We have made very clear statements as a government about that. For the reasons I have outlined, the government does intend to give leave. I move:

That the question be now put.

Question agreed to.

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

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Payman to suspend be agreed to.

Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table the document.