Wong said:
You may recall that the prime minister and I have both said, in relation to Rafah, that our message to the Netanyahu government [is]: do not go down this path.
The international community has been as one on this.
What we have seen in the past 24 hours reinforces why we and the international community issued this warning.
The death and destruction in Rafah is horrific. This human suffering is unacceptable.
We reiterate to the government of Israel: this cannot continue.
We must see an immediate humanitarian ceasefire so civilians can be protected and Australia continues to support the work of the United States, Qatar and Egypt to that end.
We continue to call for the release of all hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow aid to flow at scale, as directed by the international court of justice.
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Papua New Guinea to help after the landslide.
And the ABC has dismissed claims by News Corp that the ABC Board held “emergency talks over Laura Tingle outburst”.
Thanks so much for your company this evening. Politics Live will be back bright and early again tomorrow. See you then.
since the government revealed it intends to create a new criminal offence to protect all attributes – including sex, sexuality, gender, race and religion – from vilification.
According to three accounts of the meeting, Dutton described the proposal as a “trap”, promised not to be distracted by a Labor “wedge” and vowed to stand for Liberal values including free speech.
Although the Coalition is yet to see legislation for the hate speech proposal, expected to be introduced in August, Liberal MPs Keith Wolahan and Garth Hamilton made remarks also calling for the opposition to proceed with caution to avoid unintended consequences.
Contributions cited the experience of hate speech laws in the United Kingdom and Canada, and argued they resulted in community conflict through courts and tribunals. One MP labelled it a potential “backdoor” to blasphemy laws.
Read more on this from me and political editor Karen Middleton here:
an Israeli airstrike caused a huge blaze at a tented area for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza, with medics putting the death toll at 45 people.
Wong said:
You may recall that the prime minister and I have both said, in relation to Rafah, that our message to the Netanyahu government [is]: do not go down this path.
The international community has been as one on this.
What we have seen in the past 24 hours reinforces why we and the international community issued this warning.
The death and destruction in Rafah is horrific. This human suffering is unacceptable.
We reiterate to the government of Israel: this cannot continue.
We must see an immediate humanitarian ceasefire so civilians can be protected and Australia continues to support the work of the United States, Qatar and Egypt to that end.
We continue to call for the release of all hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow aid to flow at scale, as directed by the international court of justice.
Thank you very much to everyone who followed along with me today – I will hand you over to Stephanie Convery who will take you through the evening.
Politics Live will be back early tomorrow morning – until then, take care of you.
Rights advocates urge ANU vice-chancellor not to have police intervene in pro-Palestine protest camp
The Australian Democracy Network has contacted ANU’s vice-chancellor urging her not to pursue police intervention in the ongoing pro-Palestine encampment and calling for her to work with students to allow the protest to continue.
The letter, penned by protest rights campaigner Anastasia Radievska, warned Genevieve Bell to only use police as a “last resort” where “criminal offences” were involved.
The protection of the right of peaceful assembly, under international human rights law and standards, extends to assemblies even on private property and therefore applies to protests on university campuses.
On Tuesday, students relocated their encampment after warnings from management that their location posed health and safety risks to the university community, including the risk of AFP intervention.
It comes as the Coalition government has vowed to use provisions of the Migration Act to cancel the visas of any student protesters found to be involved in “spreading antisemitism or supporting terrorism” if it comes into office.
In a joint statement, the Coalition said the ministers for home affairs and immigration had “significant powers” to cancel visas of any person who “show contempt or disregard for the law or human rights, including terrorist activities and political extremism, and for vilifying a segment of the Australian community or inciting discord”.
which killed at least 45 civilians, mostly women and children, was a “tragic mistake”.
Wilson says:
It is not for me to necessarily judge what the Israeli prime minister has said, but it is a terrible, awful, horrific outcome and it proves, really, what lots of people have been saying and what the Australian government has been saying about military action in Rafah.
The minister for foreign affairs said some time ago that that kind of action was unjustifiable and would have potentially catastrophic consequences. We made similar statements in partnership with like-minded countries, New Zealand and Canada and the terrible events of the night before last proves that. As I said before, we need this violence to stop, what is being inflicted on Gaza is unconscionable. It has been indiscriminate and disproportionate. It cannot be described as self-defence. It has to stop.
Source: theguardian.com
