This second reading amendment does a simple yet profound thing. It gives this Senate the opportunity to call explicitly for an end to the export of arms manufactured in Australia to the State of Israel.
Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (13:25): The Australian Greens will be supporting this bill, but I want to direct the majority of my contributions to the content of the amendment circulated by my colleague Senator Cox, who now occupies the chair. This second reading amendment does a simple yet profound thing. It gives this Senate the opportunity to call explicitly for an end to the export of arms manufactured in Australia to the State of Israel. It is critical that the parliament and indeed the government join with the Australian community in opposing and ending arms sales to the State of Israel, because the State of Israel is right now engaged in acts which include crimes against humanity and war crimes, and which are under investigation for acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. In this context, with this evidence before the government and the parliament, it is urgent that arms sales to the State of Israel end.
The Australian Labor Party for months has looked the Australian community in the eye and communicated a profound mistruth. The government has misled the Australian people. The government has attempted again and again in this place to gaslight the Australian community. Every single time a Palestinian, an Australian advocate of human rights or a member of the Senate rises in this place and asks the foreign minister or the representative of the defence minister to clearly acknowledge the reality that we are in fact exporting arms currently to the State of Israel and to end that practice, the foreign minister or the representative of the defence minister replies that it is their advice that Australia is not exporting arms to the State of Israel. The facts show this to be a blatant lie. So we are left with absolutely no doubt—
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Cox ): Senator Chisholm, did you have a point of order?
Senator Chisholm: I ask that Senator Steele-John withdraw that comment.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Steele-John?
Senator STEELE-JOHN: The facts of the matter do not align—
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I think the request was—
Senator STEELE-JOHN: Sorry. I withdraw. The facts of the matter do not align with the reality, because here is the reality. Your government has greenlit hundreds of export permits to the State of Israel—weapons export permits—including hundreds of thousands in the month of October 2023. Let us go through the list of Australian manufacturers supplying arms to Israel: Currawong Engineering, of Tasmania, supplying engines for Israeli drones; Bisalloy of Queensland, supplying armour for Israeli inventory and fighting vehicles; Varley Australia, providing systems which guide Israeli rockets to their targets; and Rosebank Engineering, the only company in the world that manufactures the mechanism for the F-35 fighter jet which enables it to open its bomb bay doors.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Cox ): It being 1.30, we will now move to two-minute statements.