Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has condemned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for taking “selfies with one of the active participants of genocide” during his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in New York.
Faruqi made the comments during a heated Senate sitting on Tuesday, prompting One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to label both the Greens senator and independent senator Lidia Thorpe a “disgrace”.
Faruqi and Thorpe had each attempted to suspend standing orders to force parliamentary debate on motions concerning Gaza. Faruqi accused the Albanese government of failing to respond to what she called “three years of genocide”.
In an extended speech, Faruqi said: “Three years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, three years of mass murder of Palestinians, three years of killing more than 21,000 Palestinian children.
“This government can’t call these atrocities and war crimes what they really are, which is genocide.”
The Greens senator also directed criticism at Albanese, claiming Labor had spent years trying to silence opponents of Israel instead of taking action over the conflict in Gaza.
“I’ve said before that the Prime Minister has never met a billionaire he didn’t love,” she said.
Faruqi then turned her attention to Albanese’s recent interactions with Trump, which took place in New York earlier this month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Mehreen Faruqi (pictured) accused Anthony Albanese of enabling a genocide in Gaza
Mehreen Faruqi slammed the Prime Minister for taking selfies with US President Donald Trump during a recent meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly
“Watching him take selfies with one of the active participants of this genocide,” she said.
“Our government chooses to cosy up with Trump, who is a warmonger whose barbaric ideas include threats to annihilate Iran.”
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg could be heard mocking Faruqi’s criticism of Israel and her support for Iran.
“Excellent government in that country,” he said, referring to Iran’s ruling Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which Australia lists as a terrorist organisation.
Australian authorities have linked the IRGC to the 2024 firebomb attacks on Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.
The United States is Australia’s principal ally and serves as the guarantor of its security under the ANZUS treaty.
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Faruqi also described Trump as “a sadistic con artist” and called on the government to “name the atrocities for what they really are, a genocide”.
She urged Labor to expel Israel’s ambassador, introduce sanctions against Israel and end the two-way arms trade.
Our News Outlet heard Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg mocking Faruqi’s comments about Iran: “Excellent government in that country”
Pauline Hanson (pictured) said that Faruqi was a “disgrace” following her speech
Shortly afterwards, Senator Thorpe mounted her own bid to suspend standing orders, using much of her speech to accuse the Albanese government of being ‘actively complicit’ in genocide.
‘I’m proposing the suspension of standing orders today because last week marked three years of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people,’ Senator Thorpe said.
‘This means three years of relentless, intentional killing, destruction and displacement. Three years of Israel using starvation as a tool for genocide.’
The independent senator claimed Australia was failing to meet its international obligations and accused the government of continuing to support Israel despite the mounting death toll.
‘This country is just failing to act in the face of genocide. It is actively complicit in it,’ she said.
‘It continues to supply weapons parts. That’s why this motion is urgent, because this government is supplying weapons to Israel to commit genocide.’
Lidia Thorpe (pictured) said that Australia was ‘actively complicit’ in ‘the act of genocide’
Thorpe argued there could be no more pressing issue before Parliament than the conflict in Gaza.
‘There could be no more urgent reason to suspend standing orders today and every other day than to act in line with our most fundamental human rights obligation to prevent and stop genocide,’ she said.
She also warned that failing to hold Israel accountable for alleged breaches of international law ‘sets a dangerous precedent’ and accused the government of refusing to take meaningful action.
Both senators’ motions were ultimately defeated when Labor, the Coalition and One Nation voted against them.
