Silence, Acquiescence, Complicity: Australia’s Approach on Genocide in Gaza

I was Outside DFAT as a Former Ambassador, a Dad and an Aussie Against Genocide.

Today I sat on the ground outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra with my mouth gaffer-taped shut.

I was an Ambassador for Australia and worked in this building. As Australia’s National Focal Point for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), my job was to advocate against genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Today, I returned not as a diplomat. But as a 57-year-old dad. And as an Australian who’s lived a life of safety and freedom under human rights protections denied to other peoples.

Why the Gaffer Tape?

Australian government silence is not neutral. It is a choice. And it’s costing lives. Independent evidence shows the real death toll in Gaza is more than 100,000. That’s one in twenty of its people! Thousands of children. Many still buried under rubble, or dying slowly from disease, hunger, and thirst.

Yes, Hamas committed horrific atrocities. I condemn them without hesitation. But that doesn’t justify Israel’s systematic destruction, collective punishment, and starvation of an entire population.

Hospitals bombed. Aid blocked. Families starved. People caged and corralled like animals.

This is not self-defence. It's forced destruction. It's genocide. The world knows. The UN knows. Prime Ministers of countries like Spain and Ireland are telling it like it is. But Australia says nothing. We continue to arm Israel. We protect them diplomatically. We stay silent.

It’s Not Just Gaza

My protest is also a call to speak up for:

• The Tibetan people, enduring decades of occupation, surveillance, and cultural erasure.

• The Uyghur people, over one million of whom are detained in camps and subjected to forced labour, torture, and sterilisation.

• All people whose rights are sacrificed for trade deals, defence pacts, and geopolitical convenience.

Australia claims to believe in freedom, human rights, and peace. But when it matters most, we stay silent. We defer to powerful nations - like the United States, Israel, and China - and abandon those suffering under them.

That’s not diplomacy. It’s acquiescence. And it’s complicity.

What I’m Calling On Australia To Do

1. Name it clearly: This is genocide. Australia must stop hiding behind diplomatic caution and call Israel’s actions in Gaza what they are: a campaign of collective punishment and mass killing that meets the UN definition of genocide.

2. End all arms trade with Israel and impose comprehensive sanctions - military, economic, and political - until international law is upheld and the killing stops.

3. Join the International Criminal Court genocide case. Stand with other countries in defence of international law and against impunity.

4. Condemn US sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, and defend the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms.

5. Call out persecution of Tibetans and Uyghurs, and put human rights at the core of all our diplomatic, security, and trade relationships: not just when it’s politically convenient.

What You Can Do

• Share this blog and my posts @LyrebirdDream.

• Contact Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong, your local MP. Tell them to speak up.

• Refuse to turn away.

• Choose courage. Choose compassion.

• Speak the truth, even if our government won’t.

Some will call this naive. I disagree. I take inspiration from people like His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. As real leaders, they've resisted injustice with compassion and moral clarity.

Non-violence is not weakness. It’s strength. It’s not idealism. It’s leadership.

I was silent today because our government is too comfortable staying quiet.

And because if Australia doesn’t stand up against atrocity, who and what are we?

Gregory Andrews protesting against the genocide in Gaza.