The Australian Parliament has voted down a Greens move to suspend standing orders to consider a motion calling for the government to end its support for the “state of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.”
The Liberal-National Coalition and Labor Party, along with independents, teamed up to vote down the Greens suspension motion that was put to both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Labor Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher accused the minor party of using the situation in the Middle East to try and win votes.
“We have not sold arms to Israel. We have increased funding for multiple agencies in Palestine. Don’t come in here and try to whip it up, as you have done in previous sittings. How about the Senate work together on a pathway for peace and on keeping our community unified?”
Greens Senator Jordon Alexander Steele-John had argued the Australian government must condemn the “invasion of Gaza.”
“Nearly 30,000 people in Palestine have perished in the bombardment and invasion at the hands of the State of Israel,” he said.
“People’s access to medical aid is dwindling day by day. Much of Gaza’s hospitals are now completely closed or have had operations severely limited by the siege,” he said.
Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham said the Coalition in no way supports the attempt to suspend standing orders or the motion put forward by the Australian Greens, noting that Hamas was not mentioned at all.
“There is no doubting the fact that there is a tragedy that has been occurring across Gaza, Palestinian territories, and Israel, elevated to new heights on 7 October. What I note is that nowhere in the motion that the Greens seek to have debated nor in the contribution made by Senator Steele-John was the word ‘Hamas’ mentioned once,” Mr. Birmingham said.
“Nowhere in the motion that the Greens seek to have debated nor in the contribution by Senator Steele-John were hostages still held by Hamas referenced once.
“Now, we all wish to see the loss of life come to an end. We all wish to see a pathway that can enable Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully side by side. But the prerequisite to being able to live peacefully side by side is to have confidence in the security of that peace, to have confidence and certainty that that will be available so that all peoples can pursue their legitimate aspirations and ambitions in life. That is clearly not possible with Hamas.”
“What this motion is about is something very simple: do you think that right now the invasion should stop and stop permanently? There’s not a weasel word. It’s not a humanitarian pause so that children can be fed and then killed,” Mr. Bandt said.
The Greens motion moved by Mr. Bandt demanded that session orders be suspended to enable a motion that noted the “growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by the State of Israel’s blockage, bombing and invasion of Gaza.”
It also called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” and called on the government to “end its support for the State of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.”
This motion from Mr. Bandt was voted down with 77 members against and 6 in favour in the House of Representatives.
Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said the Australian government has taken a principled and consistent approach to the Middle East conflict since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7.
Mr. Watts noted while Australia is not a central player in the conflict, the nation does have a respected voice.
“We’ve used our voice to advocate for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, humanitarian access, the release of hostages, and the protection of civilians,” he said.
“This conflict has touched so many Australians. Australians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories during this conflict have obviously been directly affected. But many more Australians have been directly connected to this conflict through the constant stream of horrifying messages and images shared directly from this conflict,” he said.
Also speaking against the suspension motion, Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher said, “I rise to indicate that the opposition will be voting against this motion. In this place we should value the lives of all innocent civilians, including innocent Israeli civilians and innocent Palestinian civilians. In this place we should support the two-state solution and the desire of all fair-minded observers for a lasting peace and the existence of two states
“It is quite remarkable that the Greens continue to pursue a narrative in relation to the events currently unfolding which entirely ignores and airbrushes away the horrors of the 7 October terrorist attack upon Israel committed by the appalling terrorist organisation Hamas—a shocking and violent attack in which innocent and unarmed men, women and children were killed, injured and taken hostage.”
