Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has sharply criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for meeting Donald Trump, accusing him of taking “selfies with one of the active participants of genocide” during a recent visit to New York.
Faruqi made the remarks in the Senate on Tuesday, during a heated sitting in which One Nation leader Pauline Hanson branded both Faruqi and independent senator Lidia Thorpe a “disgrace”.
The two senators had attempted to suspend standing orders to trigger debate on motions concerning Gaza. Faruqi accused the Albanese government of failing to respond adequately to what she described as “three years of genocide”.
In an extended speech, the Greens senator said: “For three years, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has continued, along with three years of mass murder of Palestinians and the killing of more than 21,000 Palestinian children.
“This government refuses to describe these atrocities and war crimes for what they are: genocide.”
Faruqi also directed her criticism at the Prime Minister, claiming Labor had devoted years to silencing people who opposed Israel rather than taking stronger action over the conflict.
“I have said before that the Prime Minister has never met a billionaire he did not love,” she told the chamber.
She then turned to Albanese’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this month.
Mehreen Faruqi (pictured) accused Anthony Albanese of enabling what she described as genocide in Gaza
Mehreen Faruqi criticised the Prime Minister after he was photographed taking selfies with US President Donald Trump during a meeting linked to the UN General Assembly
“We watched him take selfies with one of the active participants in this genocide,” Faruqi said.
“Our government chooses to embrace Trump, a warmonger whose barbaric ideas include threats to annihilate Iran.”
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg could be heard ridiculing Faruqi’s comments about Israel and her position on Iran.
“Excellent government in that country,” he said, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, which Australia has designated as a terrorist organisation.
Australian authorities have linked the IRGC to the 2024 firebomb attacks targeting Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.
The United States remains Australia’s principal ally and a key guarantor of the nation’s security under the ANZUS treaty.
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Faruqi also labelled Trump “a sadistic con artist” and called on the government to identify the alleged atrocities as genocide.
She urged Labor to remove Israel’s ambassador, introduce sanctions against Israel and end the two-way arms trade between the countries.
The Daily Mail heard Liberal senator Andrew Bragg mock Faruqi’s remarks about Iran by saying: “Excellent government in that country”
Pauline Hanson (pictured) called Faruqi a “disgrace” after the Greens senator’s 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.