Australia, as a party to the Rome Statute, has agreed that it should give full weight to determinations of the ICC and, insofar as rulings have made by the ICC on matters such as this, should undertake to respect them consistent with our own national policies. As a member of the ICC and given our obligations under its charter, we can’t just ignore the ruling of the ICC, can we?
CHAIR: We will share the call. Senator Shoebridge, I’m going to hand the call to you. I’ve got some questions after you.
Senator SHOEBRIDGE: You may want to take this on notice to clarify, but I have a question in relation to the questions you were just asked about the submission that was put by the former coalition government seeking to deny that the State of Palestine existed for the purpose of the International Criminal Court and seeking to deny that there was any jurisdiction for the International Criminal Court. That was in relation to the State of Palestine. That was a submission that was put in a pre-trial proceeding that was then before the International Criminal Court. It was just a submission, wasn’t it?
Ms Sheehan : It was a submission in a pre-trial chamber of the ICC.
Senator SHOEBRIDGE: On 5 February 2021 the International Criminal Court rejected the position put by the former coalition government and held by majority that (1) Palestine has correctly acceded to the Rome Statute and has thus become a state party to it and (2) the ICC’s territorial jurisdiction extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967—namely, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. That was the ruling of the ICC authoritatively rejecting the position put by the then Morrison government, wasn’t it?
Ms Sheehan : The ICC found that it had jurisdiction to open an investigation.
Senator SHOEBRIDGE: Yes. Australia, as a party to the Rome Statute, has agreed that it should give full weight to determinations of the ICC and, insofar as rulings have made by the ICC on matters such as this, should undertake to respect them consistent with our own national policies. As a member of the ICC and given our obligations under its charter, we can’t just ignore the ruling of the ICC, can we?
Ms Sheehan : We respect the independence of the ICC.