STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (13:52): Last Wednesday, we paused to mark the third anniversary of Hamas's October 7 terror attacks on Israel. Hamas murdered some 1,200 people—the largest loss of Jewish life on any single day since the Holocaust. Families were torn apart.

Hundreds were taken hostage. Young people who had gathered at a music festival were hunted down. We remember all of them: those who were murdered and those who were taken.

We remember Australian Galit Carbone, whose life was stolen, and we hold her family close as they endure each day without her. For those who lost someone dear, no day since has been easy, and we know anniversaries carry their own weight. For Jewish Australians, that weight is heavier this year, as we soon mark one year since the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi.

To the Jewish community here and around the world: Australia stands with you. We stand against antisemitism and terror in all its forms. We unequivocally condemn the terror of Hamas, and we continue to call for Hamas to disarm and for it to have no role in the future of Palestine.

After such terrible suffering and loss of civilian life, Australia will keep pressing for the implementation of the Gaza peace plan and a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live peacefully and securely within internationally recognised borders. As the Prime Minister has said, such a future would be the greatest victory of humanity over hatred.

And it is a future we must strive for together.