We move on to other issues.

Is there a timeline for Australia to recognise a Palestinian state?

What I’ve said is that it is not the timeline, it is not what we’re looking at. What we’re looking is the circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states. I was in contact with Prime Minister Starmer overnight.

There are time issues, of course, where we are located in the world, that makes some of that one-on-one contact, I expect to be speaking with Sir Keir Starmer in the coming couple of days as well.

I’ve said for a long time, my entire political life I said I support two states, the right of Israel to exist within secure borders and the right of Palestinians to have their legitimate aspirations for their own state realised. That is my objective. Not making a statement, not winning a political point, but achieving that. That is very much my focus. We’ve signed another statement with many nations today.

That statement, I think, has a number of things in it are important. One is the statement by the Palestinian Authority that they made on June 10 that condemns the October seven terrorist attacks, that calls for the liberation of hostages and the disarmament of Hamas…that commits to schooling reform, commits to calling elections within a year to trigger generational renewal and accepts the principle of a demilitarised Palestinian state.

That is significant step forward.

What we will continue to do is to put forward a principled position, consistent with our own unwavering commitment to the vision of the two state solution.

In an immediate sense we continue to call for a ceasefire, we continue to call for hostages to be released, we continue to say that Hamas can have no role in a future Palestinian state and we continue to call for aid to be allowed to the people of Gaza.

Every innocent life matters and when I look at the statement that was carried by this parliament, the resolution after October seven on a bipartisan basis, I think it stands quite well, the work that went into producing that statement.