The press ignored it, but thousands have converged on Canberra for the first sitting week of Parliament to protest Australia’s involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Stephanie Tran reports.
Thousands of people converged on Canberra this week, marking the first sitting week of Federal Parliament with a powerful message: end Australia’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
The national protest, supported by a number of grassroots organisations across the country, called on the Albanese government to move beyond “empty statements” and take concrete action, namely sanctions against Israel and the suspension of military ties.
Among the speakers was Palestinian lawyer and Australia Palestine Advocacy Network executive Hiba Farra, who stressed the urgency of global solidarity.
“Gaza now has reached a point where everyone needs to be in this,” she told MWM.
“It’s about humanity. Everyone should be in this because it starts in Gaza, but it doesn’t end at the borders of Gaza. It starts in Gaza and it’s acceptable in Gaza. It will open the door for it to be happening elsewhere.”
Farra said the protest in Canberra was a critical moment to hold power to account.
“Being here is important, and being together is important. Empowering each other is important. Showing the government and the Parliament that we are watching their silence, and their silence is deafening.”
‘We need sanctions, not sympathy’
The protest comes as frustration mounts over the Albanese government’s tepid response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed, with 142,000 others wounded. The UN Human Rights Office reported that at least 1,054 Palestinians were killed between May and July while trying to access food, many shot by Israeli forces while queuing for humanitarian aid.
“Palestinians in Gaza are dying of starvation or bullets of the Israeli army while trying to get food,” the UN said. “The horrific physical and psychological deaths and suffering caused by hunger are the result of Israel’s interference in the delivery and militarisation of humanitarian aid.”
Speaking outside Parliament, Australia’s Voice Senator Fatima Payman described the government’s rhetoric as hollow.
“This morning I saw a little 4-year-old boy trembling while waiting to get food. And those queues are being bombed,” she said. “What does our government say? ‘The actions of Israel are indefensible’? How dare you call it indefensible now when this has been happening for decades? How dare you issue empty statements?”
Payman echoed protestors’ demands for immediate sanctions and a severing of diplomatic and military ties with Israel.
We are done with empty statements. We need sanctions; we need to break ties with Israel.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi staged a pointed protest in the Senate, holding up a sign that read “Gaza is starving, words won’t feed them, sanction Israel” during Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s speech.
She directly confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he left the Senate calling out “Prime minister, Gaza is starving, will you sanction Israel?”.
24-hour vigil calls for immediate ceasefire
The protests kicked off on Sunday, and a 24-hour “Voices for Gaza” vigil is currently being held on the lawns of Parliament House with members of Parliament, doctors, journalists, academics, actors, writers, and community members reading out the names of over 17,000 Palestinian children killed in Israel’s 22-month-long assault on Gaza.
‘Voices for Gaza’ 24-hour vigil in front of Parliament House
The vigil is organised by a number of major humanitarian organisations including Amnesty International Australia, Doctors Without Borders, Action Aid, Oxfam Australia and Save the Children.
The vigil called for the Australian government to apply pressure to Israel for immediate and permanent ceasefire, suspend the export of weapons parts, munitions and military support to Israel and apply full diplomatic pressure to restore safe access for humanitarian relief in Gaza.
Australia’s role in fuelling the war
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently joined 28 world leaders in calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, Australia continues to supply F-35 jet parts used by Israel, and maintains lucrative defence contracts with Israeli arms manufacturers including Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems.
Investigations by MWM and Declassified Australia have exposed Australia’s role in exporting weapons components used in Gaza, with Israeli companies openly marketing their products as “combat-proven” on Palestinian civilians. One Rafael promotional video featured footage of an unarmed Palestinian man being killed by a Spike Firefly drone.
Farra urged activists not to give up hope.
“I would like people to not give up,” Farra said. “It’s normal to feel activist fatigue, but we need to remember that the Palestinians haven’t given up, and we can’t give up.”
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Stephanie is a journalist and has a law/journalism degree. She was a finalist for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award and the winner of the 2021 Democracy's Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting.