While Sussan Ley and the Coalition can’t bring themselves to support the bare minimum – a call for Israel to end its war on Palestine and allow the free flowing of aid, the AFP journalists’ association has released a statement that journalists in Palestine employed by the agency may die from starvation.

It is the first time they have ever had to issue this sort of statement.

Journalist Catherine Norris Trent translated the statement, published by the Société des Journalistes, or SDJ (Editorial Committee) of AFP and backed by AFP management, from French to English.

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die.
AFP has been working with one writer, three photographers and six videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024.

Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years.

We refuse to watch them die.

One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.”

Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For more than a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness.
Since February, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, four brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.”

Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%.

AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart.

Ahlam, located in the south of the enclave, is holding on “to testify” as long as she can. “Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, do an interview or document a story, I don’t know if I’ll come back alive.”

Her biggest issue, she confirms, is the lack of food and water.

We are watching their situation get worse. They’re young but their strength is leaving them. Most are no longer physically able to get around the enclave to do their work. Their heartbreaking cries for help are now daily.

For the past few days, we have only received very brief messages from them, when they have the strength to send any. Their courage, considered heroic by the rest of the world, is now their only hope of survival.

We may hear about their deaths at any moment, and this is unbearable.

Ley was also asked whether she supports “the government’s statement on ending the conflict in Gaza that Penny Wong’s released with other countries. Do you support that statement?”

Ley:

The first and most important thing to say about this issue is that there are still hostages in Gaza, there are still hostages hidden in tunnels, and a way to end the situation is for those hostages to be released by the terrorists, Hamas, who control so much of the activity there.

Of course we want to see aid reach those who deserve it, but it is so important that Hamas, that has control, often over the flow of that aid, but certainly over the ongoing, completely unacceptable detention of those hostages, act in the interests of the people of Gaza.

Q: But do you support signing that letter? Was it [inaudible] of the Foreign Minister to sign that letter?

Ley:

I’ve just answered that question…

Journalist: You didn’t…

Ley:

…Well, it’s very important that we understand where this conflict started and who has the opportunity and responsibility for ending it, and that is, Hamas.

Q: Opposition Leader, what about the revelations that we’ve seen a large number of civilians killed while waiting for aid. What do you make of that?

Ley:

It’s important that we recognise the responsibility of Hamas and the opportunity they have to end this conflict by releasing the hostages that are still there

Hamas have offered, multiple times, and at very early stages of Israel’s assault, to release all hostages. Israel has not accepted terms. Multiple reports say it is Israel which won’t agree to negotiations, or give ground, while Hamas have agreed to multiple concessions.

There is NO evidence Hamas has control over the flow of aid, or indeed is responsible for seizing it, as often claimed by Israel. There is no basis in evidence for Ley’s position here.

Ahhhh, I knew it couldn’t last. The whole transcript of Sussan Ley’s remarks on the steps of the church has lobbed and of course, it includes polticking. It is obviously what God would want.

Ley:

So in the last Parliament, you would remember that Australians were promised a $275 cut to their power bill, which never eventuated. Now, leading into this Parliament, we saw the Prime Minister make promises about the number of homes that would be built and in the lead up to the election, he also promised Australians would pay less tax. But clearly there is work going on to increase the taxes on hardworking Australians, and we know this because of leaked Treasury advice that demonstrates that there will be a plan coming forward to tax Australians more. Now that’s a broken promise if that happens and we will hold them to account.

Similarly, that Treasury advice says that there’s no way the government could build 1.2 million homes and that too presents as a broken promise.

Now Australians are doing it tough out there, and I was alarmed to see this morning that access to homelessness services has increased by 10 per cent for Australians since Labor came to government in 2022. But for women it’s actually higher than that – It’s 14 per cent. That’s not good enough.

Similarly, we see this morning that about a quarter of GP clinics are saying they won’t be accessing the government’s bulk billing incentives. So what that means is that it will continue to cost Australians more to go and see a doctor. But we all saw the Prime Minister stand there with his Medicare card saying Australians would not be paying. Well, today it looks like Australians will be paying more to see a doctor. So that is not good enough.

We stand ready to work hard for the Australian people every single day, and I look forward to holding the government to account very strongly and with great determination where we need to on these matters.

The ceremony opening the new parliament is rolling on.

In response to the Welcome to Country, Anthony Albanese gave thanks – but did not make any commitments to treaty or truth telling, as requested by the Uluru Statement from the Heart:

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

And I thank you, Aunty Violet, for your wonderful words of welcome. And thank you to Aunty Lillian as well. As well as thanking Serena Williams and the wonderful cultural performance which we have just witnessed here this morning.

I also want to acknowledge every First Nations member and senator taking their place in the 48th Parliament.

As well as everyone who is back here, and pleased to be back here, both new and re-elected members and senators, and their guests here this morning.

The Welcome to Country is such a powerful way to begin a new Parliament. Like a lot of the most positive things about our nation, we shouldn’t take it for granted. This ceremony did not take place until 2007. And was controversial in 2007. It is not controversial today, nor should it be. It is a respectful way of us beginning our deliberations here in Canberra, which of course, means meeting place.

What a Welcome to Country does, is holds out, like a hand warmly and graciously extended. An opportunity for us to embrace, and to show a profound love of home and country.

It is a reminder as well, of why we all belong here together. That we are stronger together.

And we belong, if I may return to Aunty Violet’s wonderful words, in a spirit of understanding, respect, and shared purpose.

Guided by Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, and following in the footsteps of her two great predecessors, Linda Burney and Ken Wyatt, we keep walking together.

And with every step, we feel the echoes through history.

The footsteps – nearly a century distant from us now – of every First Nations person who trekked to the opening of the first Parliament House down the hill.

The footsteps of the members of the Stolen Generations who came to this place 17 years ago now to hear the words that they needed to hear: ‘I’m sorry’. Uttered by an Australian Prime Minister on behalf of the Australian nation.

That was a day of catharsis built on courage and grace. Ultimately, it was a day of togetherness, and a reminder of our great potential and promise as a nation.

Consider the beautiful set of contradictions that make up who we are.

A youthful nation, yet one of the world’s oldest democracies.

An ancient continent – one we share with the world’s oldest continuous living culture. What an extraordinary privilege. What a source of pride for all Australians.

We have so many facets – and they come together to make a unique whole.

They come together here on the ground, and they come together in the sky above us.

Look up on a clear night when you’re far from city lights and you’ll see the Dark Emu, with the Southern Cross shining on its head.

And when you’re looking at the Southern Cross, look at the star that twinkles most softly. It’s the part of the Southern Cross that features on the Australian flag, but not on the flag of New Zealand.

Several years ago now, the International Astronomical Union formally recognised that star as Ginan, the name given to it by the Wardaman people in the Northern Territory.

To the Wardaman, it represents a red dillybag filled with special songs of knowledge.

It is an Australian star, a piece of ourselves reflected back at us from our great Southern sky.

And it flies above us now, on that giant flag pole on the top of this building. One more reminder that this country – and this Parliament – is our great diversity of chapters coming together.

And the Welcome to Country lets us touch the very beginning of the story – our story. The Australian story.

In the 48th Parliament, we write the next chapter. Let us do it, with the same sense of grace and courage that First Nations people show us with their leadership.

Greens senator David Shoebridge has responded on behalf of the party to the government co-signing a statement with 24 other countries and the EU calling for the immediate end to the war on Gaza:

For nearly two years, the Greens have been demanding the Government call for an immediate ceasefire. During this time, they have not only refused to do so but attacked those calling for peace.

We welcome the recent statement, but it is clear that the Albanese Government has been on the wrong side of history for the past two years. They need to take action now. 

Just this month, the Government was facilitating weapons exports to Israel. You cannot, on the one hand, call for peace while fuelling war with the other.

Words and strong statements will not stop the bombing, shelling and shooting of Palestinians. Australia and the rest of the world need to match these words with action, starting with an urgent ban on sending weapons and weapons parts to Israel.

Now Australia has recognised the obscenity of Israel’s ongoing Gaza campaign, we must also cancel the billions of dollars in contracts with Israeli weapons manufacturers who sell their products as “battle tested” in a genocide.

International law, common decency and the wishes of billions of people across the world for a Free Palestine all demand the same thing. Action, justice and a world that acts for peace.”
 

It’s only been SIX FREAKING MONTHS.

On this episode of After America, Dr Emma Shortis reflects on the extraordinary period since Trump was inaugurated and considers what could come next.

Tl;dr: it’s pretty grim.

Greens leader Larissa Waters has announced that a climate trigger will be the first order of business for the Greens in the new parliament.

The Greens will introduce the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill as their first private senators bill. (Without support from the government, it goes nowhere).

This legislation will be the first bill debated in either chamber of the 48th parliament.

Waters:

The Labor government has a choice this term to either work with the Greens in the Senate to legislate a climate trigger, or to continue approving toxic coal and gas that is sending our planet to collapse.

Our Bill would force the climate impacts of projects to be considered by the Minister, and it would also ensure mega-polluting projects can’t get environmental approval at all.

While Australian communities are living through once-in-a-decade weather events almost every year, our environmental laws remain unchanged since the Howard government wrote them. 

These laws allowed the Albanese Labor government to sign off on Woodside’s North West Shelf gas extension to 2070, meaning more intense floods, fires, and species extinctions, plus more pollution each year than all of Australia’s coal stations combined. 

After decades of fossil fuel acquiescence from the major parties the moment for real action is now.

Dirty fossil fuel projects need to be properly assessed for their impacts and rejected, so our kids, and all the precious species we share this beautiful planet with, have a safe climate future.

The 48th parliament could achieve real progress, the Greens will keep fighting for climate and the environment, a transition to clean energy, an end to native forest logging, protection for our biodiversity, and no more coal and gas.

We just need Labor to show courage in getting off the payroll of big gas corporations and to work with the Greens to bring our environmental laws into this century with a legislated climate trigger.”

There is a 24-hour vigil outside the parliament, which includes members of parliament, doctors, journalists, academics, actors, writers, and community members reading the names of more than 17,000 Palestinian children who have been killed by Israel over the last 22 months in Gaza.

(Full disclosure, I plan on attending the vigil and also reading some of the names).

The action is jointly hosted by seven Australian civil society organisations – Action Aid Australia, Amnesty International Australia, Caritas Australia, ChildFund Australia, MAA International, Oxfam Australia, Plan International Australia, Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to demand immediate and concrete action from the Australian Government to end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. 

From the statement:

Israel’s brutal campaign has claimed over 58,000 lives to date, with tens of thousands more wounded or missing under rubble. The event will honour the children killed in Gaza, reading their names and ages aloud continuously over 24 hours.

We welcome the strong statement signed overnight by the Foreign Minister on Australia’s behalf, calling for an immediate end to the war on Gaza and for the full flow of aid. But without urgent and concrete action, these words ring hollow. The Australian Government must now take concrete action to pressure Israel to end the illegal siege, uphold the rights of civilians, and demand accountability after months of injustice faced by Palestinians in Gaza. 
 
The vigil will be a time for mourning and commemoration. The Voices For Gaza group will also make the following demands on the Australian government:

1. Apply pressure on Israel for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end the ongoing killing of civilians;
2. Use its power in international forums to demand Israel abide international law and to support international accountability mechanisms, including those of the International Court of Justice;
3. Immediately suspend the export of weapons parts, munitions and military support to Israel, directly and via intermediate countries, to ensure Australia is not complicit in crimes committed in the illegally occupied Palestinian Territory;
4. Apply full diplomatic pressure to restore safe, unimpeded, and sustained access for humanitarian relief in Gaza, led by United Nations aid delivery mechanisms and grounded in international humanitarian law;
5. Advocate for a political solution that ends Israel’s decades-long illegal occupation, lifts the blockade on Gaza and upholds the Palestinian right to self-determination.

On the statement Australia has co-signed calling for Israel’s war on Gaza to end (the language in the statement is much more passive, but it is the strongest one we have to date, even if it doesn’t actually include any sanctions or action) Gorman says:

The war in Gaza must end. The fact that we are not seeing vital aid, food and humanitarian supplies get to civilians in Gaza is unacceptable, and it’s been unacceptable for a long time. We joined with like-minded partners to say very clearly that we believe that the war in Gaza must end. Since the atrocities of October 7 we’ve been calling for the return of hostages, and we continued even this statement where we joined with like-minded countries, including the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Japan. We joined with them in saying that we want to see an end to this conflict. It’s a clear statement from us and a range of partners, and we hope that this will get that outcome that we’ve been seeking for for a long time. 

Ahead of the ceremony, the assistant minister to the prime minister Patrick Gorman was sent out to do doors – which is when MPs/Ministers go through the main doors where they know journalists are waiting in order to deliver the message of the day. Gorman was asked about Sussan Ley’s comments yesterday that the opposition would not ‘get out of the way’ (while also saying that she believes Australians want the government to get out of the way)

Gorman said:

I respect the parliament. I respect the role of each individual member of the parliament to do the job that their community or their state or their territory sent them here to do, and we’ll continue to show that respect.

But equally, some of these things that we’re talking about, these are not new propositions. It was last year that the Prime Minister was very clear that we want to cut student debt, and we want to make it so that people don’t have to pay back that debt as early on in their career at those lower income levels.

We want to get that done.

If the Coalition are still unsure about where they stand on that, then they should probably explain that to the Australian people, because it’s been on the agenda for so long. And of course, the Coalition will continue to pass judgement on the Government’s agenda. They’re obviously still trying to sort out what it is they stand for.

One thing that I can say, though, is I won’t be voting for the Coalition bill to abandon net zero. I don’t know if all the members of the Coalition will be voting for the Coalition bill to abandon net zero. We believe that we can act on climate change. We believe that the path we are walking on, which is to grab the opportunities of a renewable energy future is the right path for Australia. 

(There was no suggestion the government would vote for the bill to abandon net zero and the private members bill has no power, so everyone is just signalling here)