Yesterday, on the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel, we paused to reflect on the horrific terrorist atrocities that reverberated across the world.
As we did last October, this Parliament comes together again to unequivocally condemn Hamas’s actions on that day.
On October 7, Hamas sought only to kill and to terrify.
They perpetrated their crimes without mercy, and without discrimination.
Men, women and children were subjected to acts of degradation and humiliation that – a year on – remain beyond comprehension.
Yet Hamas made this waking nightmare a reality.
They chose a holy day on the Jewish calendar to target young Israelis at a music festival.
To hunt down men, women and children in their homes.
To prey on families, on children and on parents trying to protect their children in what often proved to be their desperate final act.
A year on from that day when death emerged out of the sunshine, we reflect on all that happened and all the devastation that has followed.
We think of the brutality and the cruelty that was inflicted on so many with such cold calculation.
We think of all whose lives and futures were stolen from them that day as they tried to save themselves and their loved ones, and all who have had them stolen since.
We think of those whose lives remain suspended in the fear and isolation of captivity. And we think of those whose own lives – and hearts – are so intimately connected with the hostages who were kidnapped that day.
Either through the bonds of blood or the embrace of friendship and community, this has been a year of pain, of loss, and grief.
Last night, I attended the vigil in Moorabbin, Melbourne, where I had the sombre privilege of meeting with a relative of Galit Carbone, the Australian woman among those killed on that fateful day.
I expressed my condolences, and that of our nation.
Mr Speaker,
For so many, this past year must have felt like a cruel eternity. The torment of not knowing the fate of a loved one taken hostage – or having the terrible truth confirmed.
October 7 will always be a day of pain.
As we mourn and reflect, we also re-affirm a fundamental principle of our shared humanity: every innocent life matters.
Every Israeli. Every Palestinian. Every Lebanese.
Every single innocent life. It is the terrorists who close their eyes to that powerful, simple truth.
The number of civilians who have lost their lives over the past year is a tragedy of horrific proportions.
An estimated 40,000 Palestinians have been killed. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is devastating.
Our Government has consistently and repeatedly called for a ceasefire, for the release of all hostages, and for the protection of all civilians.
We remain committed to a two state solution as the path to an enduring peace. Two states – Israel and Palestine – living peacefully side by side, with prosperity and security for their people.
There can be no possibility of a just future without that.
Australia’s position is consistent with other democratic countries.
I have issued multiple statements with the prime ministers of Canada and New Zealand.
We know that it is only through diplomatic efforts that this cycle of conflict and bloodshed can be broken. Escalation denies diplomacy any chance of working.
On September 26, Australia joined with 11 other nations – including the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK – to call for de-escalation.
We agree with every word in the G7 statement of this week. And I quote:
A dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks fuelling uncontrollable escalation in the Middle East, which is in no one’s interest. Therefore, we call on all regional players to act responsibly and with restraint. We encourage all parties to engage constructively to de-escalate the current tensions. International humanitarian law must be respected.
We also reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the unconditional release of all hostages, a significant and sustained increase in the flow of humanitarian assistance, and an end to the conflict.
We fully endorse the efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to reach such a comprehensive deal, in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735.
The situation in Gaza is catastrophic, and tens of thousands of innocent lives have been lost. We reiterate the absolute need for the civilian population to be protected and that there must be full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, as a matter of absolute priority.
In his statement marking the first anniversary of October 7, President Biden said:
We will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for a surge in humanitarian aid to ease the suffering on the ground, assures Israel’s security, and ends this war.
Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity, and peace.
We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.
Mr Speaker,
A year on from October 7, Israelis and people across the world are mourning those who were robbed of their lives and futures, and waiting anxiously for news of the hostages who remain in captivity.
Palestinian people are mourning the lives taken from them in the continuing aftermath. So much has been lost, so many loved ones buried.
We join all of them in their grief.
We will continue to call for de-escalation in the violence and conflict in the region.
We repeat our call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
We repeat our call for the release of all hostages.
We repeat our calls for aid being allowed to flow.
Tragically, we are seeing the situation worsening.
Since late last year, we and others have been expressing concern about the real risk of the conflict spreading and escalating and how dangerous that escalation would be.
We are now seeing that come to pass.
We unequivocally condemn the actions of Iran and Hezbollah.
Iran must cease its destabilising actions, including through terrorist proxies the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
Amid their attacks on Israel, Australia steadfastly maintains support for Israel’s right to defend itself. We always have and always will.
We repeat our call for all sides to observe international law.
It is important to recognise that the loss and grief of this past year have been deeply felt here in Australia.
Sorrow knows no boundaries. It recognises no differences.
Since the atrocities of October 7, Jewish Australians have felt the shadows of the past creeping into the present.
We condemn the poison of antisemitism, whatever form it takes.
This is a pain the Jewish people should never have had to endure again. Nor should the Jewish people feel exposed once more to the hatreds that had their most pitiless culmination in the Holocaust.
The Holocaust is not softened by the passing of time. It does not recede into history. It does not offer the one, slender comfort of distance.
Our Jewish Australian community is made up of Holocaust survivors, their children and grandchildren. The branches of their family trees are heavy with loss and suffering, with acts of survival in the face of overwhelming odds.
It is nearly 80 years since that darkest of chapters closed, nearly eight decades of the world saying: never again.
It is shocking and wrong that in 2024 Jewish people are having to draw on their courage and resilience again, enduring such loss, enduring the weight of not knowing and, for those with relatives who are missing, enduring the weight of hope.
I want to repeat the message that I've given to all Jewish Australians since the outset: you are not alone; your fellow Australians stand with you.
Our social cohesion has been built over the course of generations by people of all backgrounds and from every faith and tradition.
All of us take pride in it, all of us must work together to protect it.
Mr Speaker,
This Parliament gives all of us a national platform and a national duty to send a message to every Australian: You have the right to be proud of who you are.
The right to feel safe in your community, whether you wear a yarmulke or hijab.
The right to feel free to live the truth of your faith.
And that the mere act of your children walking freely to school should just be a regular part of daily life, unremarkable in its happiness.
Every time Parliament rises and we return to our electorates across this great continent of ours, we can travel along the streets and see synagogues. We can see mosques. We can see churches and temples.
As a country and as a people, we are big enough to contain them all.
That is who we are. That is what we have so painstakingly built and so carefully nurtured, generation after generation.
Each and every one of us have a responsibility to prevent conflict in the Middle East from be used as a platform for prejudice at home.
I want to be clear to anyone who thinks about taking a Hamas or Hezbollah flag to a protest.
Hamas and Hezbollah march under different banners but - like every terrorist organisation – in the end, they are bound only by hatred.
They aim only to inflict death and destruction, to make the world a more divided and more dangerous place.
They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be accommodated – and they have no part in the future of the Middle East.
Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organisations who have no interest in peace in the Middle East. They serve no cause but terror.
They have shown themselves to be the enemy of the very people they purport to represent.
We unequivocally condemn any indication of support for such organisations.
Mr Speaker,
Today, as we remember those who were lost, we stand with all those who wait. We stand with all those who endure loss. We stand with all those who endure hope.
Let us stand together as a nation and as a Parliament in our shared determination to preserve the harmony that makes this the greatest country in the world and in our shared commitment to a just and lasting peace, knowing that the truest act of strength is to protect the innocent.
That is the truth we must hold on to.
The truth of a shared humanity, of the hope that peace is possible, and the belief that it belongs to all people.
To quote Dr Martin Luther King: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”