ADJOURNMENT
Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia) (20:05): Yesterday in Perth I had the honour of speaking at the national Australians Against Antisemitism rally, and I want to acknowledge the members of the Western Australian state parliament that joined me on this important occasion: Mr Adam Hort MLA, the member for Kalamunda, representing Basil Zempilas MLA, the Leader of the Opposition; Mr Simon Ehrenfeld MLC, from the state upper house; and Ms Maryka Groenewald MLC, also from the Western Australian Legislative Council.
These are the remarks I made to the very large crowd that attended the gathering of the forecourt of the Western Australian state parliament yesterday. Two years ago, on 7 October 2023, the world watched in horror as Hamas terrorists launched a barbaric assault on Israel—the deadliest single day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. More than 1,200 innocent men, women and children were slaughtered.
Families were burned alive in their homes. Young people were hunted down at a music festival. Entire communities were wiped out in acts of hatred.
Let there be no equivocation: these were not acts of resistance; they were acts of terror. The perpetrators, Hamas, are not freedom fighters; they are the violent agents—funded by Iran—of an ideology dedicated to Israel's annihilation and to the destabilisation of the Middle East. Two years on, the world looks very different.
The guns have finally fallen silent in Gaza. The remaining living hostages, whose names and faces became symbols of courage and endurance, have been returned home as part of the Gaza peace plan. For their families, an agony that lasted 738 days has at last been broken.
The ceasefire, while fragile, offers the first glimmer of hope that this long and tragic chapter may yet give way to peace. That outcome didn't come by chance; it came through relentless diplomacy and the courage of nations prepared to lead. The American peace initiative, building on the foundations of the Abraham Accords, provided the framework for this moment, encouraging dialogue, normalisation and regional cooperation.
It brought Arab and Israeli leaders to the same table and demonstrated that peace is possible when security, recognition and prosperity are shared goals, not bargaining chips. It showed that moral clarity, not moral equivalence, is the only basis for progress. Australia should be proud to support that vision.
In the difficult months that followed the October 7 attacks, Australians were entitled to expect the same clarity from their own government, yet too often they did not receive it. The Albanese Labor government's premature recognition of a Palestinian state, taken while hostages remained in captivity and rockets still fell on Israeli towns, was a profound mistake.
It sent the wrong signal—that violence could influence diplomacy—at the very moment our allies were working to prove the opposite. Recognition must follow peace, not precede it. It betrayed Australia's long-held bipartisan principle that recognition must come at the end of a negotiated peace process, not in the middle of a conflict.
To act otherwise undermines both Israel's right to security and the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians who seek a future free from the tyranny of Hamas and Iranian interference. Australia's voice should always reinforce the cause of coexistence, never give comfort to extremism. As we mark this solemn anniversary this month, the Senate should speak with one voice to remember the victims of October 7, to honour the survivors and to affirm our nation's enduring commitment to Israel's right to exist in peace and safety, and to peace and safety across the Middle East.
We should also acknowledge the courage of all who have worked for the ceasefire—in Washington, Riyadh, Jerusalem and beyond—and recognise that the American-led peace framework now gives both peoples their best chance in a generation to live side by side. Two years on, we can finally speak not only of grief but of hope: hope that the ceasefire will hold; hope that Gaza can be rebuilt not as a fortress of hatred but as a home for its people; and hope that the lessons of October 7 will never be forgotten—that peace is secured only when terror is defeated and that freedom endures only when nations stand firm in both principle and purpose.
We remember the victims, we honour the survivors and we recommit ourselves to the cause of a lasting peace built on truth, justice and strength. (Time expired)