The Greens have refused to support Senator Jacqui Lambie’s motion condemning the desecration of war memorials in Canberra by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Pro-Palestinian graffiti was discovered along Anzac Parade on Sunday morning, with the Korean War, Vietnam War, Australian Army monuments and a wall between the memorials defaced.
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie on Monday slammed the “disgusting” act, saying it flew in the face of veterans who sacrificed their lives for the nation.
“Do these people really think that this helps their cause? Do they really think these disgusting acts of vandalism will bring about a ceasefire?” she said.
“I don’t think these people have any idea what it’s like to have to go to war and have to fight, to see your mates killed in front of you, or to come home with injuries that mean you will never be the same again.”
The Senator moved a motion to condemn the actions of vandalising war memorials by pro-Palestinian activists on the basis it is “deeply insulting” for members of the ADF and undermines the significance of the memorials as “symbols of national pride and remembrance”.
Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, however, signalled his party would be opposing the motion.
“You can agree with it, you can disagree with it but it was inherently a political decision,” he said.
“And one of the reasons why we cannot support the motion brought by Senator Lambie today is that it frames the act of protest by way of interacting with a memorial of a commemorative space as something that is exclusive to those who support justice and freedom for Palestine and that is not true.”
He argued memorials of any type, but particularly war memorials, were not “politically neutral spaces”.
“The Australian Constitution contains no explicit commitment to freedom of speech,” he said.
“If we are to believe that the men and women of the ADF gave their lives in wars and conflicts to defend such freedoms, then you have to engage with the reality that protesting, that painting is a form of speech.”
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell weighed in on the ordeal on Monday afternoon, commenting that the Greens were grilled from all sides.
“Boy, did they cop it in the chamber from Jacqui Lambie and the Coalition and Raff Ciccone, the Labor Senator for their stance,” Clennell said.
He said all eyes were on Labor’s Fatima Payman to see if the Senator would abstain or cross the floor after her decision last week to vote against the party’s position and side with the Greens on a motion to recognise Palestinian statehood, which had earnt her an indefinite suspension from the party caucus.
He said Ms Payman was saved from embarrassment after the Greens did not speak and a division was not called, and therefore names were not recorded.
“And because of that, Fatima Payman didn’t have to decide whether or not to come into the chamber,” he said.
“Now there were already rumours that this state of Palestine motion – that was the cause of Fatima Payman getting kicked out last week – will be repeated tomorrow in the Senate and I think this is something that we’ll be watching all week.”
Along with Senator Lambie, who said the Greens were “whipping an atmosphere of hate and division all for votes”, Labor’s Raff Ciccone also slammed the vandalism of the memorial and took aim at the Greens.
“The Australian Greens political party choose to … back those people who have vandalised and made a mockery of our fine men and women who have stood up for this country and paid the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.
“Australians have a right to peaceful protest but they do not have a right to vandalise, spray paint, desecrate, or anything else, (to) deface our memorials.”