Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has responded to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s motion on the October 7 attacks, saying the Coalition refuses to support it because “this government has sought to walk both sides of the street in relation to what has been a very divisive debate for our country”.
Dutton condemned Albanese for moving a motion that he described as politically motivated.
“So in the motion moved by the prime minister today, is not just words of comfort and words of recognition in relation to October 7, and I acknowledge those words in his motion. But of course, it goes beyond that, and it’s an extension of the way in which the prime minister has conducted the debate himself over the course of the last 12 months, trying to please all people in this debate,” he said.
“Now is not the time to call for [this] as the prime minister does in his motion … there are other sections here, which go well beyond the intent of what should be a motion to mark the loss of life of 1200 people on the first anniversary.
“But of course, the prime minister is trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth, and that is not something that we will support in relation to this debate, none of us supports the loss of civilian life and everybody in this place, I’m sure, condemned the actions of a terrorist organisation.
“Today is the day where this parliament was meant to mark what should be a solemn moment, a solemn moment where 1200 people lost their lives and that is the position that we put to the house.
“We have put to this prime minister a more than reasonable position and the prime minister has rejected that position for his own political domestic advancement and that has been recognised by millions of Australians, and for that, the prime minister should be condemned.”