Gaza - 5 June 2024
The humanitarian disaster that we're witnessing in Gaza is deeply disturbing. The sheer scale of the horror is hard to fathom. It seems unimaginable there could be so much suffering, but there is, and we are watching it unfold in real time. There is no doubt this conflict was caused by the Hamas terrorist attack against Israeli civilians and is perpetuated by the ongoing detention of hostages. But the military response from the Netanyahu government has gone too far with more than 35,000 people now dead, including more than 100 journalists and more than 200 aid workers. On 20 May the chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court announced he was seeking arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders and three Hamas leaders. In Australia this was immediately politicised with the coalition threatening to cut ties with the ICC, undermining Australia's long-standing bipartisan commitment to international humanitarian law. Australia has led efforts to build an effective international criminal justice system, to hold to account those responsible for grave offences against humanity. We cannot interfere with this system. On the other side, the Greens keep proposing motions that make no mention of the role of Hamas or hostages to wedge the government. Instead of using this traumatic situation for domestic political point-scoring, we in this house must be united in using Australia's voice to hold all parties to account and continue to call for ceasefire.