STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales—Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens) (13:33): Right now, across this country, speaking the truth is becoming a crime. Earlier this month, two young people were arrested in Brisbane for standing against Israel's genocide. One wore a singlet that said, 'From the river to the sea.' The other, Liam Parry, explained that those words are a call for freedom for the Palestinian people.

Another two have been charged since for displaying a banner. Governments are silencing calls end apartheid. Governments are silencing those exposing their complicity in genocide.

First, they tried to smear and demonise a peaceful movement protesting against the slaughter and starvation of Palestinians. That did not stop us, so now they've unleashed the full force of the state to crush dissent and to prop up their crumbling narrative. George Orwell once said, 'In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' In this time of lies, students and young people are turning up—week after week, rally after rally—to tell the truth, no matter the consequences, and governments are trading away their safety, their freedom and their futures to protect a genocidal state.

People are choosing courage. Governments are choosing cowardice. We will keep choosing courage.

We will not be silenced. No law, no arrest and no threat of prison will change this. The truth does not disappear just because those in power are afraid of it.

The charges against Liam Parry and others should be immediately dropped and these draconian laws overturned. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.