I live in the seat of Griffith, which is a federal government electorate in the inner city area of Brisbane’s East. For the past two elections, I have voted for Max Chandler-Mather because I have nowhere else to cast my vote either for Liberal or for Labor. Yesterday in the Parliament, my MP justified my vote by calling out the Australian government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza. This is what the member for Griffith had to say.
Max Chandler Mather: What is the red line for labor when it comes to Israel’s in Gaza, how many kids does Israel have to burn alive before Labor will literally take any action against Israel. What will it take to stop giving public money to Israeli weapons companies? What will it take to stop sending arms and ammunition to Israel? Here’s just just to get the human consequences of this action. Here’s just that one moment from the Raffah massacre, as quoted in CNN. And I quote a video film for CNN in the hospital courtyard shows several body bags laid on the ground with dozens of anguished people, including men, women and children, crowded around their late loved ones.
People are seen crouching over the body bags, with some caressing their loved ones lifeless bodies. At least one baby’s head can be seen sticking out of a bag as the wound beside it shouts, my my whole family has perished, lifting the baby’s boy body to the camera. ?? Abu Taha cries out, this is who they are targeting. This is their objective. This is the generation they’re looking for. This is the safe Raffah they talk about.
Another eyewitness says, a five-day-old baby named gave Abu Raya was killed in the airstrike.
The footage shows him opening a small body bag to reveal the infant’s head, saying, his body has been dismembered. We are all alone. Nobody cares about us. He cries.
He is seen opening another body bag next to Gabe, sobbing and saying, My beloved Ramy, who he says his ??, 33 year old father.
This is just one moment from the 35,000 people that have been murdered in Palestine, Palestinians by the Israeli government. But what’s most remarkable about the reactions in this house, remember to either side, is the remarkable lack of responsibility we sit. We sit. We sat here and we heard responses to the member for Melbourne speech, the leader of the Australian Greens.
Oh, no, the government doesn’t back the invasion of Gaza. No, no. Oh, we don’t do any of that. What takes the responsibility you are the government.
You signed $917 million weapons contract with Elbit systems in February this year. The CEO of Elbit Systems, the blacklisted Israeli weapons company, has said, recently, we have seen increased interest in our weapons recently because of their in operational use in Gaza, as in killing Palestinians. You, in February this year, allowed for $1.5 million of arms and ammunition to be sent to Israel. And they say, Oh no, that didn’t happen. That’s on the government’s own data. The government’s own data. There are other countries that can expel ambassadors when countries engage in but no nothing here. Those are the actions that this government could take. You could recognize the state of Palestine, and you sit here and pretend like you have no power.
Well, let’s be real about this. Every time Israel massacred civilians, every time they burn children alive, they look around the world and they wait for the consequences, and none come from governments like Australia, and that’s why they know they can get away with it.
As the Member for Melbourne said, History will remember people in this place and what they did. They’ll ask, What did you do when there was a massacre and a going on in Gaza, when mothers and fathers held lifeless bodies of their children in their hands who had starved to death because they had run out, run out of energy to breathe as a result of Israel’s engineered famine, they’ll ask, What did you do? What did you do in this place?
And it’s remarkable as well. We’re going to get here, I’m sure going to hear some members in this place get up after this and talk about social cohesion. And they’re going to talk about, oh no, the words like saying, oh we we wait to oppose the invasion of Raffah, while sending weapons to Israel or sending money (interjection) – a lie? Oh, here we go. Here. Labor party member in this place. It’s a lie. Well, go on your own government’s website. What is the $1.5 million to Israel in armed ammunition. Oh, not remarkable. This is the most remarkable thing. At the very least, stand up and take responsibility. At the very least, stand up and take responsibility for the death and destruction that you are complicit.
Speaker of the House: Order! that the member for Griffith will cease using the word ‘you’, I am not part of this debate. You shall direct your remarks through the chair under standing orders.
[Apologies for any errors in the transcript]
Lest we forget
This is how the politicians voted.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uQNTZGzBUw5-ywdTkX_gO8YM1uanWtOJw1EDbWWyEdU/htmlview
Ian Curr
30 May 2024
Reference
https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen/ParlView/video/2488614