Senator RHIANNON: In previous estimates hearings, Senator Brandis, you confirmed that the Australian government was abandoning the internationally accepted description of East Jerusalem as 'occupied' because the term is 'judgemental'. Since then, Australia's ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, has told Israeli media outlets that the entire West Bank should not be referred to as 'occupied'. This includes Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah and all parts of the Golan Heights. Is Australia's official position that the West Bank is not occupied?

Senator RHIANNON: I now want to move on to issues to do with global health programs.

Senator McEWEN: Senator Rhiannon, just while we are finding someone to answer those questions for you, the mysterious $800,000 was in DFAT's answer to QON 409. It was the amount that had been spent on consultancies for IT integration to date. So perhaps you could take on notice, Mr Varghese, whether that amount is still the same or whether or not it has increased.

Mr Varghese : I am happy to do that.

Senator RHIANNON: In the foreign aid budget, what percentage and what dollar amount is allocated to non-government organisations?

Mr McDonald : I need the CFO for that answer.

Senator RHIANNON: I will keep going, then. In previous Senate estimates, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr spoke about four allegations of the mistreatment of Tamils that have been investigated. Are you aware if there have been further allegations apart from those four?

The Australian Greens have long worked inside and outside parliament to oppose Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, beginning with the election of Jo Vallentine in 1990.

The Greens understand that justice for Palestinians is critical to achieving lasting peace in the region for Israelis and Palestinians.

Click the link below to download Australian Greens for Palestine.

The war against Palestine continues. Along with the deaths of more than 2,000 and the destruction of essential infrastructure, many aid funded projects of vital importance to the health and wellbeing of Gazans have been destroyed.

Here is the text of my letter to the editor regarding Piers Akerman's comments in the Daily Tele article 'School bus outrage shows dark force we must defeat' (Aug 8 2014).   

Published 11 August:

Dr Rimmer : My submission and a number of submissions from particular unions raised concerns about the role of investor-state dispute resolution in relation to matters of industrial relations.

The following letter has been signed by a number of Australian politicians.

Three weeks since the attack on Gaza began, and one week since the ground invasion began the Greens NSW say that any ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza must include an end to Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and to the blockade of Gaza.