Motion: Debate be Adjourned: Greens on Middle East

MOTION

‘DEBATE BE ADJOURNED: GREENS ON MIDDLE EAST’.

Thursday, 15 July 2024.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (15:01):

The Greens have attempted to move today from the business of the House to debating the conflict in the Middle East, and it is a matter that they have sought to debate repeatedly in this place, not in a constructive way but in a destructive way.

No-one in this Chamber wants to see people hurt. Nobody wants to see young people – any age of person – hurt. We want to see our community band together; we want to see our rich multicultural community band together at this difficult time as this difficult, in fact heartbreaking, event is happening on the other side of the world, a place where the Member for Caulfield and I recently went. It is heartbreaking, and I am sure every Member in this place wants to see an end to that conflict, wants to see peace and wants to see all of the good people of that region flourish and have wonderful lives.

To know that the Greens have again attempted to rip the social divide in this State is simply shameful. We will not support the Greens’ attempt to do so. In fact, earlier on the Motion the Member spoke about the fact that charity should no longer flow to parts of the Middle East. Think that through: we have an argument that is being put that is pulling the social fabric of our community apart and asking people to choose sides in a conflict where both sides are full of innocent people. There is only one group of people that we can all unite in being opposed to, and that is terrorists.

We need to be careful with attempts like this, which hopefully will not see too much light other than the Greens’ media pack that are standing outside the Chamber with their cameras ready. We know why this is being pulled – so that the social media can be filmed on the way out of the Chamber. This type of Motion will only hurt the fabric of the Victorian community, and we cannot stand for it.

Every time there is an attempt by the Greens to do that, we have to stand united in this place and say, ‘No, we will not allow that. We are a rich multicultural community.’

There are elements around the world of extremism, and that clearly is ripping apart some of the edges of the fabric of Western countries, and there do need to be conversations around whether extremism fits within the value set of Western countries. My view is that it does not, because you need to ensure when you have a people and a country and a community living together, that for the people within that community – of course they can be rich and vibrant and from all across the world – there has to be just a basic set of fundamental values that binds that community together, not in any way to take away from the richness of that social fabric but to make sure that the people around us live well and prosper. So, there is a conversation around extremism. What is not a conversation that should be had in this place, or any other place is whether or not an innocent person who has been hurt or died is more important than another innocent person who has been hurt or died.

This place I am sure is almost united in saying the events in the Middle East are deeply heartbreaking. Many of us feel so incredibly moved by them, but what we have to do as community leaders is stand together and say, ‘Let’s not allow anybody to rip apart the social fabric,’ which is not easy to make in a community, but it is easy to pull apart. We have to stand up against any attempt by anybody, let alone a Member of this place – shame, a Member of this place – to pull apart that social fabric. So, the Coalition will be siding with the Government in ensuring that this Motion is voted down, and I hope the Greens consider stopping moving this type of Motion in this House.