mr speaker, i bike to move the labour amendment in the name of the leader of the opposition and my name. there are times when this house can come together with clarity and purpose and i hope that this can be one of those moments. mr speaker, it is with pain and sadness that this house gathers here today. the pain and sadness of war that has gone on too long. it is now 137 days since the appalling 7th of october massacre, and since that date the killing has gone on. flattened cities, ransacked villages, teaming refugee camps, hostages in chains, we have seen it all on our tv screens and phone screens. mr speaker, a ground offensive in rafa would be a humanitarian disaster. a moral catastrophe. and a strategic mistake. it must not happen. that is our position, that is the position of the european union, it is the position of ourfriends of the european union, it is the position of our friends in the arab world, it is the position of our partners in australia, canada, new zealand