Labor ‘dragging feet’ on Hamas massacre ruling

The Albanese government has failed to formally designate as an overseas terrorist act the massacre of 1200 Israelis by Hamas on ­October 7.

The failure to make the declaration more than 100 days after the attacks means Australian Jews who lost loved ones in Israel are not eligible for financial assistance through the Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment under the Social Security Act.

This contrasts with formal Australian government terror designations of more than 50 overseas terrorist attacks under the legislation, including the US September 11, 2001 attacks, the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2005 London bombings, the 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris and the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack.

It also comes after the government this week pledged an extra $21.5m in humanitarian assistance to Gaza and Palestinian refugee programs in the Middle East, including $6m for the United ­Nations and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, an agency Hamas has allegedly previously siphoned funds from.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a meeting of Palestinian Authority officials that Australia’s latest funding package – intended to pay for civilian healthcare and childhood education – must not be misused by terrorists, signalling Australian government concern with how the funds might be ­apportioned.

Senator Wong said she raised the matter during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Wednesday. During a visit to the West Bank the Foreign Minister also met with representatives of communities affected by Israeli settler violence, drawing praise from Mr Shtayyeh for her condemnation of the attacks. “I was very encouraged to hear a very strong statement from the minister on issues that has to do with settlements and the Australian opposition of settlement construction that are all illegal in the Palestinian territories.”

On the issue of the October 7 attacks, despite having had more than three months to examine the issue, the government says it is still “considering” whether to designate the assaults an overseas terrorist attack under the legislation.

Under the Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment, established by Labor in 2012, Australian residents who are harmed, or whose close family member is killed, as a result of an overseas terrorist act, are eligible for assistance payments of up to $75,000.

“Since the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, the Australian government has been supporting Australians and their family members affected by the conflict at home and in the region,” a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said.

“The Albanese Labor government is steadfastly committed to supporting Australian victims of terrorism overseas (and) the government is considering further ways in which to support Australians and their family members.”

But the federal opposition ­accused the government of dragging its feet on the issue, which it said was delaying much-needed financial help for those Australians impacted by the October 7 attacks.

“It’s about time the Albanese government officially declared what every Australian can see – that the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel was a terrorist attack,” opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson told The Australian.

“Doing so would allow Australian loved ones of the victims of Hamas’s brutality to get the support they need to rebuild their lives.

“These are people grieving from the loss of in some cases three generations of Jews killed in the worst massacre since the Holocaust. “Three months on from the attacks, there must be no further delays or excuses for inaction. These families need support now, not when it is convenient for the Albanese government to finally act.”

The length of time between an overseas terror act and the government’s declaration of it varies but in many cases the event has been declared a terror act within two months of it occurring. These include the November 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris, the December 2016 truck terror attack in Berlin and the Barcelona truck attack in August 2017.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie wrote to the Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister on December 18 urging the government to declare the Hamas attacks as a terrorist act.

Mr Hastie urged the government to act after meeting with a Jewish woman in his Canning electorate, in Western Australia, who lost her mother, her brother and her nine-month-old niece in the Hamas attack on Be-eri kibbutz.

“The formal declaration of (October 7) as an overseas terror act is not only an important point of fact, but it also serves as a prerequisite for the Australians seeking to claim the Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment,” Mr Hastie wrote to Mr Albanese.

“Given the pressing need for support – particularly for (my constituent) as they grapple with financial challenges in the aftermath of this tragedy – I request your swift action to ensure that Australians receive the necessary victim support following this evil attack by Hamas.

“As you are aware, Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation (and) this declaration has been made in the past, notably after the 2001 US September 11 attacks, the 2002 Bali bombings, and, more recently, the 2020 Hulhumale attack in the Maldives,” he wrote.

Mr Hastie has received no reply to his letter from either the Prime Minister or Ms O’Neil.