Not so interesting but what you would call disgusting, people have vandalized our ANZAC memorials and the GREENS refuse to condemn the act.
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The Greens have refused to condemn the vandalism of war memorials in Canberra with pro-Palestinian graffiti, raising the ire of several senators.
Jacqui Lambie, an army veteran, on Monday moved a motion in the Senate to condemn vandals who desecrated memorials for the Korean and Vietnam wars in Canberra over the weekend.
“Do these people really think that this helps their cause? Do they really think these disgusting acts of vandalism will bring about a ceasefire?” Senator Lambie says.
“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.”
‘Whole new low’: Jacqui unleashes on Greens© Provided by NewsWire
Senator Jordon Steele-John said the Greens would not support Senator Lambie’s motion, saying 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.”
“Whole new low!” Senator Lambie yelled out.
Labor’s Raff Ciccone also hit out at the Greens, saying Senator Steele-John’s comments were “totally out of order” and “offensive”.
He said Labor condemned vandalism at “one of the most sacred places in the country”.
“Australians have a right to peaceful protest but they do not have a right to vandalise, spray paint, desecrate … our memorials.”
The Coalition’s James Paterson said the motion could have been a “moment of unity” for the chamber, if the Greens had supported it.
“It is extraordinary that any elected member of this place would come in here and defend the defacing and the desecration of these monuments,” he said.
The motion passed on the voices and did not require a division.
Albo doubles down on rogue senator ban
Anthony Albanese says West Australian senator Fatima Payman’s decision to appear on ABC’s Insiders and vow to go against Labor’s position on Palestinian statehood was deliberately disruptive.
On Sunday, the 29-year-old first-term senator had her one-week suspension upgraded to an indefinite ban following comments on the current affairs show that she would continue to cross the floor.
Albo doubles down on rogue senator ban© Provided by NewsWire
Speaking for the first time since a government spokeswoman confirmed the extended suspension, the Prime Minister said Senator Payman’s comments and the timing of them made her continued participation in Labor caucus meetings untenable.
He said her actions were designed to “undermine what is the collective position that the Labor Party has determined” and “disrupted” the launch of Labor’s cost-of-living policies.