Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has accused parliament of targeting minority women after being sanctioned by the Senate for her silent protest about the Israel-Gaza conflict during the opening ceremony of the 48th parliament.
Senator Faruqi held up a sign reading “Gaza is starving. Words won’t feed them. Sanction Israel” while Governor-General Sam Mostyn delivered her address to the upper house on Tuesday. As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese left the chamber, she called out: “Prime minister, Gaza is starving, will you sanction Israel?”
The Senate voted on Wednesday to sanction Senator Faruqi, banning her from participating in any overseas parliamentary delegations for the remainder of this parliamentary term. The motion, introduced by government Senate leader Penny Wong, also requested an apology for “unparliamentary conduct”.
Labor and the Coalition voted in favour of the sanction, while the Greens and crossbench senator Fatima Payman opposed it.
Senator Faruqi doubled down on her protest, telling the chamber she accused her colleagues of being on the “wrong side of history” and being “more focused on cracking down on black and brown women” – a comment she later withdrew after being called to order.
“The Greens will not be silent as this genocide unfolds,” Senator Faruqi declared. “You will not be able to intimidate me or any of my colleagues, and we will never stop fighting for freedom, for Palestine.”
Senator Wong criticised the protest as attention-seeking behaviour, telling the Senate: “What she wants most of all is attention. Australians expect us, their elected representatives, to uphold our democratic institutions.”
Coalition Senate leader Michaelia Cash described the protest as a “breach of respect” that was “deliberate, prolonged and clearly intended to politicise a solemn and ceremonial event”. She unsuccessfully sought additional sanctions that would have suspended Senator Faruqi from the Senate for the remainder of the week.
“Rules without enforcement are meaningless and institutions without discipline become irrelevant,” Senator Cash said, calling the protest “street theatre”.
Prime Minister Albanese said elected representatives have a responsibility to “act like an adult”, adding: “There’s a place for demonstrations, and it’s not on the floor of the Senate or the House of Reps.”
The protest occurred on the same day Australia joined 27 other nations, including the UK and France, in condemning Israel for the “drip feeding of aid” and “inhumane killing” of Palestinians.
A pro-Palestinian protester in the public gallery was also removed by security after shouting “shame, shame” during the debate, while hundreds of protesters gathered on the parliamentary lawns during the opening ceremony, resulting in one arrest according to the Australian Federal Police.
In a statement after the motion passed, Senator Faruqi accused Labor of “cracking down on people who speak out against a genocide, while ignoring the perpetrator”.
“They’ve done it to Senator Payman, they’ve done it to Senator Thorpe, and now they’re doing it to me,” she said. “The Labor government don’t like a mirror being held to their complicity in a genocide.”
