Fronting a Senate estimates hearing, the foreign minister was also asked how many people Australia has helped to leave Gaza.
Fronting a Senate estimates hearing, the foreign minister was also asked how many people Australia has helped to leave Gaza. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was asked about the flotilla activist's treatment during a senate estimates hearing in Canberra.
Penny Wong has been asked to meet with an activist who alleges she was sexually assaulted by an Israeli soldier. Australia has assisted 415 people to leave Gaza under Israeli occupation, it has been revealed, while the federal government urges Israel to transparently investigate the mistreatment of Australians on controversial aid missions. The issue of Australia's support for the Palestinian territories, Palestinians and Australians in the region was the subject of several flashpoints during Senate estimates on Thursday.
Watching on at parliament were three women who joined global efforts to deliver medical support and aid by sea to the annexed territory. Foreign Minister Penny Wong was scathing of a request by Greens senator David Shoebridge on whether she would meet with the trio so they could detail their abuse. Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I don't respond to requests that are made in a political forum like this from a political party like yours," she said. Juliet Lamont, who alleges she was raped by an Israeli soldier, wanted Wong to speak about the experiences of the flotilla activists in a public setting, even if doing so involved highly personal details.
"Something as barbaric as this needs to be talked about at every single moment and ordinary Australians need to know what happened," she said. Pressed by senator David Pocock on whether she had advocated for an independent probe, the foreign minister said the government was "pressing for a swift and transparent investigation" following talks with her Israeli counterpart on the matter.
"We would want the most thorough investigation possible but we're not the ones who are able to determine what that investigation is," she said. She objected to further questioning on the matter by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, who asked the minister if she believed the women.
While Wong said she did, Faruqi wasn't satisfied, interjecting that she had "done nothing to support these women" and was allowing "the criminals to investigate their own crimes"Earlier in the full-day hearing, Shoebridge sought answers on whether the Department of Foreign Affairs was failing to lodge the necessary paperwork to allow Australians to leave Gaza. Wong accused Shoebridge of living in a non-factual "pretend universe" and "performing for social media".
DFAT officials revealed that 415 Australian citizens, permanent residents or their immediate family had been supported to leave the war-ravaged region. That involved a complex process including multiple Australian agencies, Israel and its occupying agency COGAT, and Jordan. , it had not yet moved to accept the credentials of its ambassador, prompting a back-and-forth which also had to be cooled down by a morning tea break.
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