Tuesday, 2 June 2026

 David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (22:51): (2545) My adjournment is to the Premier. It is fair to say that Trump’s disastrous excursion into Iran has dominated headlines since it began. It has effectively overshadowed any coverage of the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) ongoing genocide in Gaza, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and global fuel prices diverting attention from the fate of the Palestinian people. It is both revealing and tragic that it took a video posted by Israel’s far-right ex-criminal national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir boasting about the kidnapping and assault of activists in the Global Sumud Flotilla to refocus our gaze on the horror and illegality of Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza. What we saw on our screens – peaceful activists, including 11 Australians, handcuffed and subjected to cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment – was only a fraction of what these people suffered while being unlawfully detained. Melbourne activists and one of my local constituents, Violet Coco, described their treatment at the hands of Israeli forces:

After being kidnapped from international waters, every participant on our boat was stripped of our layers, pushed to a dark torture chamber where five Israeli soldiers waited to beat and abuse us …

We were then subjected to days of starvation, dehydration, extreme cold, stress positions at gunpoint in the blistering sun for hours, sleep deprivation and more.

Other activists spoke of witnessing the sexual assault of protesters. If this is what happens to Westerners under the scrutiny of the international media, one can only imagine what horrors tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom are children, are subjected to in Israeli prisons without such scrutiny. The relentless assault on Gaza by the IDF continues unabated while millions continue to starve due to the Israeli government’s illegal blockade.

Victorians are rightly outraged by these actions and are calling for the Victorian government not only to condemn Israel’s treatment of the flotilla activists but to take action against the Israeli government. So I ask the Premier: what meaningful actions, including sanctions, is the Victorian government taking to express the outrage of Victorians at the treatment of the flotilla detainees and the ongoing genocide in Palestine?

The PRESIDENT: I am just thinking about the actions, Mr Ettershank. I set a standard at the start of the term. If your action was to call on the Premier to advocate to the Prime Minister to take action, given it is foreign affairs – and I respect it is a very sensitive topic that you are speaking about. We are happy to review your action if you like, or you may want to change your action for the Premier to advocate to the Prime Minister to do the actions that you called on, if that is okay with you.

David ETTERSHANK: Could I just make a couple of points?

The PRESIDENT: Yes, sure.

David ETTERSHANK: Firstly, very early in this term we called on the government to cease its trade relationship and the defence MOU, which the government duly did I think in December 2024. The government also maintains specific trade relationships with the State of Israel, so I think it is within the scope of the Premier. The third point would be: we have already seen other governments, both local governments and state governments, take actions against, for example, the purchase of Israeli products, so there are actions that are available to the government in responding to these actions.

The PRESIDENT: Mr Ettershank, like I said, we are happy to review Hansard. I am not trying to be difficult. I am just wanting to make sure that you do get an action through. We will leave it as it is, and we will review it and get back to you if we see a problem – that is, if it does not adhere to the standing orders in terms of what an adjournment can be – if you are happy with that.