The agreement between Israel, the US and Iran to a two-week ceasefire is a positive development in a war that should have never started. This illegal and chaotic war of choice by the United States must be a turning point for Australia to unshackle itself from the US and pursue an independent defence and foreign policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following insults and threats from US President Donald Trump over the past weeks, including that \u201ca whole civilisation will die\u201d by the US targeting Iran\u2019s civilian infrastructure, the US has agreed to a limited ceasefire with Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the beginning of the US and Israeli war on Iran, devastation and killing have spread throughout the region. The economic and social impacts have been felt in Australia, with the public paying the cost of war through the rising cost of living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To its shame, the Albanese Labor Government was the first in the world to support Trump and Netanyahu\u2019s illegal attacks on Iran. Australia has been further involved in the war through US bases, including Pine Gap and North West Cape and hundreds of Australians embedded in the US military. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite strong opposition from the Australian public, the Labor government has delivered everything Donald Trump asked for in this war and its deployments have included SAS troops and an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft being sent to the war zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting Greens Leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi said:<\/strong> \u201cThis war has exposed the consequences of the failure of nations around the world to hold Israel and the US to account for their flagrant disregard for international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLabor\u2019s reckless decision to back the US and Israeli strikes, send military assets to the region, and turn a blind eye to Trump\u2019s escalating threats sends the message that Australia will consider this collapse in international norms acceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow many more lives will be stolen before Labor learns its lesson that licking the boots of the US can come to no good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Greens are the only anti-war party in the Parliament. The Labor-Liberal-One Nation unity ticket on war has only made Australia less safe and raised the cost of living for everyday Australians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAustralia needs to be part of global efforts to build a world that respects human rights, strongly opposes attacks on civilians, and actively works to bring peace. To do that, Labor must dump Trump and cancel AUKUS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson for Defence and Foreign Affairs, said:<\/strong> \u201cThe US is not a trusted friend, and it\u2019s not a dependable ally, it is a force of chaos and aggression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis war has demonstrated that US bases don\u2019t make you safe in any war the US starts, they make your country a target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe rapid expansion of US bases in Australia must stop, and facilities like Pine Gap must be closed. They do not make Australians safe and they do not promote stability in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Albanese Labor Government, backed in by the war parties of One Nation and the Liberals, have handcuffed Australia to the US military. This has had devastating impacts on the country and the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnless we see clear material actions from the Albanese Government to prevent the US from conducting these wars in the future, then it will be giving a licence for Trump to do this again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAustralia must now work with middle powers to ensure that this fragile ceasefire can become a lasting peace. It must also enforce consequences on the US for starting this war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the time to withdraw Australian troops from the US military, close US bases in Australia and end AUKUS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to have confidence and courage in Australia\u2019s ability to build peace and security in our region without being hostage to a great and powerful friend with no interests but their own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The agreement between Israel, the US and Iran to a two-week ceasefire is a positive development in a war that should have never started. This illegal and chaotic war of choice by the United States must be a turning point for Australia to unshackle itself from the US and pursue an independent defence and foreign … Continue reading “Ceasefire welcome, time to cut the ties with the US”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38348,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38347\/revisions\/38348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cWe welcome this ceasefire and hope it holds, for the safety of civilians in the region and for the good of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis must be a turning point. This must be the moment where Australia sheds its dependency on the US and starts to chart an independent foreign policy that is focused on peace and stability. That starts with scrapping AUKUS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n