Senators Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Payman have co-sponsored a package of Bills introduced to the Senate Thursday, which seeks to protect vulnerable populations from the risk of genocide and atrocity crimes.
The package of bills, initiated and developed by international human rights experts and lawyers, aims to strengthen the nation's commitment to international human rights standards, prevention of genocide, and greater accountability in financial, trade, and foreign policy.
The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent senator noted that in the past year alone, the Australian government has given more than $20 billion of public money to defence companies on a "red alert" list from the United Nations.
Senator Thorpe said these companies are involved in supplying weapons and ammunition to the Israeli government, who has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to stop actions that could lead to genocide, and whose prime minister and former defence minister are now the subject of ICC arrest warrants.
"This country has a legal duty to prevent genocide," Senator Thorpe said on Thursday.
"This reform package, which includes three critical pieces of legislation, seeks to uphold Australia's responsibility to prevent atrocities, protect vulnerable communities, and ensure that Australian institutions are not complicit in serious human rights violations worldwide.
"This is an important step in making sure that this country does not turn its back on genocide and mass atrocities happening across the globe."
Senator Thorpe said "if Australia is to be a "global leader in human rights, we must ensure our economic activities do not contribute to or enable genocidal violence".
"These bills will ensure that this country's institutions are held to the highest standards of accountability when it comes to respecting human rights and preventing crimes against humanity, including genocide," she said.
"I hope that the Albanese government does the right thing and supports this package."
Dr Sophie Rigney, Senior Lecturer RMIT Law; and former lawyer at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, said the package "provides practical measures to ensure Australia complies with its international obligations, and at the same time to protect Australian businesses from being complicit in grave human rights abuses".
"These bills will ensure it's not 'good for business' to profit from genocide and apartheid," Dr Rigney said.
In June, Senator Payman voted in favour of a Greens Bill for the Australian government to recognise the state of Palestine - a position consistent with the official policy of the Australian Labor Party. Labor MPs voted against the Bill, and their own policy, and in July Senator Payman quit the party after being subjected to a smear campaign by ALP members.
On Thursday the now crossbench senator said Australia must take a stand.
"While us, in this place, concern ourselves with the two-party preferred, the netsats and demographic analysis, the people of Palestine are worried about whether their building is going to be hit by a US-made 2,000 pound bomb, whether their daughter is going to be left paralysed by an Israeli Offence Force sniper, or whether the starvation and infection that is so prevalent in Gaza will take away another of their few surviving family members," she said.
"Last month, at a press conference for the People United Against Genocide, I asked 'How many more need to be killed before this government has the courage to call it for what it is? To call it a genocide?'."
