A federal Labor MP has declared that “we have to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza” as she stood with the Greens to receive petitions from more than 120,000 Australians who are demanding an end to the fighting.
Maria Vamvakinou spoke out against the “humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Gaza” and also took aim at Israel as she said that thousands of Palestinian civilians including children were “being killed by a highly sophisticated army”.
Vamvakinou made the comments at parliament house as she stood alongside fellow Labor MP Fatima Payman, Coalition MP Mark Coulton, numerous members of the Greens as well as health workers to receive two petitions calling for an immediate ceasefire.
As backbenchers, Vamvakinou and Payman are not bound by cabinet solidarity rules, but their presence at the petition handover reflects growing pressure within Labor ranks for the government to take a stronger line in defence of Palestinian civilians.
The Australian government has called for “humanitarian pauses” and urged Israel to follow the rules of war and prevent civilian deaths, but has stopped short of demanding a ceasefire.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has argued any steps towards a ceasefire cannot be “one-sided” and must include the release of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas since the militant group launched the attacks that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, about 40% of them children, since Israel began its assault on Gaza, according to figures released by the Hamas-run health ministry.
Vamvakinou, a co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, said she welcomed the petitions, because they were a method for Australians “to tell this parliament that they feel strongly for the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Gaza”.
“We have to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” she said.
“We rely on the Australian people to march on behalf of the people of Gaza … to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, who tabled the petitions in parliament, said he hoped “our prime minister and government listens and joins the calls for an immediate ceasefire”.
“Otherwise thousands more are going to die,” Bandt said.
The petitions included one backed by 82,000 people urging the Australian government to condemn Israel’s military operations and call for an immediate ceasefire.
The other petition, signed by about 40,000 people, was organised by Australian healthcare workers who said a ceasefire was needed to alleviate the suffering of civilians and health staff in Gaza.
Nasser Mashni, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, said the high level of support for the petitions “rekindles our hope in the compassion and humanity of this community”.
“The community has begged, pleaded, cried, screamed, chanted and rallied for a ceasefire during the past 40 days,” Mashni said.
The Israeli government has repeatedly dismissed calls for a ceasefire, arguing that would allow Hamas to regroup and harden its positions.
The calls come amid ongoing internal division in centre-left political parties across the western world, including in the UK, where 56 Labour MPs defied their leader, Keir Starmer, by voting for a ceasefire.
The Australian parliament also descended into a fiery debate on Wednesday when the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of seeking to “weaponise antisemitism”.
Dutton had moved a motion condemning the prime minister’s “failure to show the strong leadership required to overcome divisions within his own caucus, to stamp out antisemitism and bring our country together”.
The same motion condemned the government’s response to a high court ruling that required the release of more than 80 people from indefinite immigration detention.
The Labor MP Josh Burns said Dutton should not have “conflated” the two issues.
Burns said the Jewish community was currently experiencing the highest level of antisemitism he had seen in his lifetime and it should not be “used as political footballs”.
“I do not believe that it’s in the Jewish community’s interest to have one political party trying to pit the community against another,” Burns told the ABC’s RN Breakfast on Thursday.
The Liberal MP Julian Leeser defended Dutton. The former frontbencher told ABC Radio National that the opposition leader “wanted to make the point about security of the community being absolutely paramount, whether it’s the Jewish community or whether, as a result of the high court case, it’s the general community”.
The leader of the house, Tony Burke, said leaders must “bring people together and call out all forms of bigotry”, including rising levels of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
“Yesterday was one of the darkest moments I’ve seen in the house in my nearly 20 years here,” Burke told ABC Radio.
A visiting UN special rapporteur said on Wednesday that the Australian government’s reluctance to openly criticise Israel’s actions was “dangerous”.
