Liberal senator’s scathing dig at Mehreen Faruqi as Green takes extraordinary step of Albo for ‘taking selfies’ wth Trump because he is ‘participant in genocide’

The mere act of meeting Donald Trump is beyond the pale for Mehreen Faruqi – with the Greens senator slamming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for taking ‘selfies with one of the active participants of genocide’ during his recent trip to New York. 

Faruqi made the extraordinary comments on the Senate floor on Tuesday during a fiery sitting where One Nation leader Pauline Hanson condemned both her and independent senator Lidia Thorpe as a ‘disgrace’. 

Senators Faruqi and Thorpe both sought to suspend parliamentary standing orders and force debate on motions relating to Gaza, with Faruqi accusing the Albanese government of failing to act through what she described as ‘three years of genocide’. 

During a lengthy diatribe, Faruqi said: ‘Three years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, three years of mass murder of Palestinians, three years of killing more than 21,000 Palestinian children. 

‘This government can’t call these atrocities and war crimes what they really are, which is genocide.’

The Greens senator also targeted Albanese personally, claiming Labor had spent years attempting to silence critics of Israel rather than taking action. 

‘I’ve said before that the Prime Minister has never met a billionaire he didn’t love,’ she said. 

She then criticised Albanese’s recent interactions with US President Donald Trump, while he was in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly earlier this month. 

‘Watching him take selfies with one of the active participants of this genocide,’ she said.

‘Our government chooses to cosy up with Trump, who is a warmonger whose barbaric ideas include threats to annihilate Iran.’

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg could be heard mocking Faruqi’s criticism of Israel and support for Iran.

‘Excellent government in that country,’ he said, in reference to Iran’s ruling Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia. 

Australian authorities have linked the IRGC to the 2024 fire bomb attacks of Sydney’s Lewis’s Continental Kitchen and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue. 

The US is Australia’s principal ally and the guarantor of its security under the ANZUS treaty.

Faruqi also described Trump as ‘a sadistic con artist’ and urged the government to ‘name the atrocities for what they really are, a genocide’.

She called on Labor to expel Israel’s ambassador, impose sanctions on Israel and end the two-way arms trade.

Shortly afterwards, Senator Thorpe mounted her own bid to suspend standing orders, using much of her speech to accuse the Albanese government of being ‘actively complicit’ in genocide.

‘I’m proposing the suspension of standing orders today because last week marked three years of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people,’ Senator Thorpe said.

‘This means three years of relentless, intentional killing, destruction and displacement. Three years of Israel using starvation as a tool for genocide.’

The independent senator claimed Australia was failing to meet its international obligations and accused the government of continuing to support Israel despite the mounting death toll.

‘This country is just failing to act in the face of genocide. It is actively complicit in it,’ she said.

‘It continues to supply weapons parts. That’s why this motion is urgent, because this government is supplying weapons to Israel to commit genocide.’

Thorpe argued there could be no more pressing issue before Parliament than the conflict in Gaza.

‘There could be no more urgent reason to suspend standing orders today and every other day than to act in line with our most fundamental human rights obligation to prevent and stop genocide,’ she said.

She also warned that failing to hold Israel accountable for alleged breaches of international law ‘sets a dangerous precedent’ and accused the government of refusing to take meaningful action.

Both senators’ motions were ultimately defeated when Labor, the Coalition and One Nation voted against them.