Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to draw attention to and thank those people in Bass who have been consistently active in calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to genocide, and a free Palestine.
Launceston for Palestine is a grassroots collective of individuals and groups who formed in the weeks following Israel’s invasion of Gaza on 7 October 2023. They have peacefully rallied and acted for peace every week since that time.
Regular actions include a rally and street march in the centre of Launceston, alternating with ‘Honk for Palestine’ actions on a prominent Invermay corner. Speakers at these events are regular members of the Bass community who are deeply concerned and very distressed by the horrific events playing out in Gaza. I have heard many of them share heartfelt reflections as they attempt to comprehend what is happening and urge our government to speak out against Israel’s actions in Palestine.
As well as weekly rallies, Launceston for Palestine and its members have presented a weekly installation called Shoes for Gaza in Brisbane Street Mall. Through winter, the shoe installation will take place fortnightly. Two hundred pairs of empty shoes are displayed to represent the daily death toll and raise awareness in the community about what is happening in Gaza.
On Saturday 18 May, 20 people from Bass undertook a Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage. The group walked from West Ulverstone to Devonport, a distance of 32 kilometres, to represent the distance from Gaza City to Rafah. The pilgrimage was part of a worldwide movement of Followers Of Jesus who seek an alternative to the support of mass destruction in Gaza by so many Christian churches. Its purpose was lament and the highlighting of principles of peace and non‑violence, as well as calling for an enduring and sustained ceasefire, immediate flow of humanitarian aid and release of all hostages on both sides.
Participants reported the pilgrimage brought together people of diverse backgrounds and, while tiring, was poignant and meaningful, and provided a space to hold the pain Tasmanians feel about events in Gaza.
Soon after this, on 25 May, Kites for Gaza was held at Riverbend Park. Participants decorated and flew kites to demonstrate support for children in Gaza. Seeing the joy and delight of children made for a beautiful event, but it highlighted the tragedy children in Gaza are currently living through. According to Al Jazeera live tracker, on 10 June, the death toll in Gaza was at least 37,658 Palestinians, more than 15,000 of whom were children. There are more than 10,000 people missing in Gaza.
Israel has expanded its military operation to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, an area in which the vast majority of displaced Palestinians had been told to seek refuge. Israel continues to carry out strikes on schools and hospitals. In the most recent strike, 33 people, including 12 women and children, were killed and in an air strike that destroyed a school.
Israel’s attacks on Gaza have destroyed or damaged more than half of Gaza’s homes, 88 per cent of school buildings, and 16 out of 35 hospitals are partially functioning. Every hour in Gaza, 15 people are killed, six of whom are children, and 35 people are injured. For context, that is 15 killed during the time of this adjournment debate, while the International Court of Justice ruled that starvation has been used as a weapon by Israel.
Last month, the International Court of Justice stated that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is now to be characterised as disastrous.
These current actions come on the back of 76 years of military occupation of Palestine by Israel. Since Nakba in 1948, Palestinians have been controlled, restricted, attacked and had their land continually illegally annexed.
The current violence in Gaza is a continuation of Israeli colonisation of Palestine. For this reason, I thank Launceston for Palestine and all the associated groups and individuals who faithfully show up every week and conduct actions, and for consistently and peacefully drawing our attention to the atrocities being committed against Palestinians.
Honourable Speaker, we need to hear the voice of Palestinians. We need to pay attention to what is happening in Gaza and we need to do all we can to call for peace and an end to the violence. Concerned citizens of Bass are rallying every week. We need their actions to be matched by government action. The Tasmanian Greens call on the Australian Government to condemn attacks on innocent civilians and do all they can to help bring about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of unrestricted humanitarian aid to Palestinian people in Gaza.
