Jumping back to the foreign affairs committee, Foreign Minister Penny Wong also said she believed Australia’s recognition of Palestine and participation in a two-state solution conference helped create momentum for a peace deal in Gaza, despite the Trump administration opposing the recognition push.
Wong accused the opposition of obstructing efforts to reach a solution, saying the Coalition had “misread both what President Trump and the international community have been working towards at every turn”.
Penny Wong on Friday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“The international community, the Australian people, and the Australian government have been in step,” she said.
“I hope that today we can see a different approach here in this country, where those who wish to have the discussion about what is happening in Gaza as a point of political division may now cease that, and we can all speak as one voice as Australia, in support of peace.”
Wong also accused Greens senator Nick McKim of politicising the war by asking why the government had not labelled Israel’s conduct in the war a genocide or imposed sanctions on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The foreign affairs committee has now taken a break for lunch and will resume at 1.45pm.
Read the full article here
