Greens sponsored Palestine petition tabled in ACT

A petition for Palestine was tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday 27 August by prominent Palestinian lawyer, Mussa Hijazi sponsored by ACT Greens spokesperson for antiracism and multicultural affairs Andrew Braddock MLA and signed by almost 1000 ACT residents.

The petition called for banning goods from Israeli illegal settlements, cutting investment and economic ties with Israel and weapons manufacturers as well as show support for Canberra’s Palestinian community, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, end the illegal occupation of Palestinian land and condemn Islamophobia.

When asked what led to the petition, Mr Hijazi pointed to the recent International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on 19 July regarding the Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine.

“Obviously Gaza is in the background and it’s huge, but (the petition) is triggered by more than that,” he explained.

“Now that we have a decision by the highest court where there are references to states and corporations, where basically the court said you can’t be complicit in what Israel’s doing, and not necessarily in relation to Gaza, but in relation to what was happening in Palestine generally.

“The narrative is being controlled by the mainstream media and by the government at the Commonwealth level and Palestinian voices are being lost.  (This petition) is going to create some attention to the Palestinian cause.”

He also gave the example of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) cancelling Jayson Gillham for mentioning the Israeli killing of journalists in Gaza, as  pattern to suppress “expressions of support for either the Palestinian community or the Muslim community or anything being spoken about, the atrocities that are happening on that part of the world.”

Andrew Braddock sees the petition as an opportunity for the ACT Government to take action where it can.

“My greatest hope is to see the ACT government show some leadership, some ethical and moral leadership on this issue,” he explained.

“These are not issues that are just happening halfway across the world. They reverberate through the Canberra community, and it’s great to have the community advocating to the Assembly and the Parliament, calling for some demonstration of leadership.

“I would love to see the ACT government go further, in terms of its divestment and actually respond to what has been the community’s call, but also the guidance from the United Nations on this front.”

However, on Thursday 29 August,  the Labor ACT Government responded to the Assembly resolution of 7 February 2024, in relation to Human rights incompliant companies – Divestments, in which Mr Braddock moved a motion in the Assembly, calling on the ACT Government to divest from all corporations listed by the United Nations (UN) as complicit in the construction, utilisation and maintenance of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

In particular, the Greens sought that the ACT Government divest from its investments (as of 31 December 2023) in the following companies listed in the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human rights (UNOHCHR) database:

Airbnb Inc; Alstom SA; Bank Hapoalim BM; Bank Leumi Le-Israel BM; Booking Holdings Inc; Expedia Group Inc; Israel Discount Bank Ltd; Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd; and Motorola Solutions Inc.

Citing the ACT Government’s Responsible Investment Policy framework, the response stated:

“The nine companies identified in Paragraph 4(b) of the Resolution have been assessed under the Responsible Investment Policy ESG Controversies methodology and framework as having a rating of ‘Severe and Indirect.’

“This scoring level, will not lead to a divestment of the companies at this point in time, as the
framework results in divestment only when the scoring level reaches a rating of “Very severe and
Direct”.”

The ACT Government response can be read here:
Human Rights incompliant companies – Divestments – Assembly Resolution of 7 February 2024 – Government Response

“I’ve learned to be bitterly disappointed from Labor in terms of just how far they’ll go with the divestment,” said Mr Braddock.

“While ACT Labor did amend my motion, they ultimately backed it, and should have followed through.

“Even Labor members supported the principle of divestment at their most recent ACT conference, where members voted to condemn ‘the operation of an apartheid system in Israel.’

“Divesting from the nine companies listed in this motion was the bare minimum this government should do, and we should be going further still.

“The Greens will proudly continue to actively oppose the apartheid regime illegally occupying Palestine and committing a genocide in Gaza.”

The full wording of the petition can be found at:
https://epetitions.parliament.act.gov.au/details/e-pet-034-24

On Thursday 29 August, the local Palestinian and Muslim communities in Canberra, the ACT Greens co-hosted a vigil to remember those killed in the Gaza genocide, with the backdrop of Israel expanding their Gaza strategy into the West Bank.

No Labour or Canberra Liberals MLAs attended the vigil.

Click here for more photos videos and from the vigil.