Green MPs face sanctions as premier says protests made her feel unsafe

Victorian Greens MPs have been forced to apologise for disrupting parliament during a heated debate about war in Gaza that prompted Premier Jacinta Allan to denounce repeated stunts that she says make her feel unsafe.

Richmond MP Gabrielle de Vietri, a supporter of Palestinians, called on Allan to cancel a memorandum of understanding that Victoria had signed with Israel’s defence ministry given the case before the International Court of Justice, which found Israel must take action to prevent genocidal violence by its armed forces.

Victorian Greens MPs Gabrielle de Vietri, Ellen Sandell, Tim Read and Sam Hibbins pose with a slogan.Credit: Instagram

All four lower house Greens MPs – de Vietri, Brunswick’s Tim Read, Melbourne MP Ellen Sandell and Prahran’s Sam Hibbins – were then removed from the lower house chamber for 90 minutes for holding up placards that together read: “Vic Labor stop arming Israel.”

Speaker Maree Edwards said in a meeting later on Wednesday she would take further action if they did not apologise.

“I will be seeking an apology. If I do not receive that apology, there will be further matters to proceed with,” Edwards said.

De Vietri’s Instagram account live-streamed footage of the exchange during question time.

Her question was referencing the agreement the Victorian government’s Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions entered into in December 2022 to foster trade relations with Israel’s Ministry of Defence.

Premier Jacinta Allan said the Greens had repeatedly interrupted parliament. De Vietri was suspended without pay in November for refusing to apologise after taking a selfie with protesters who had disrupted question time to promote a climate protest.

Allan said that incident in November had made her feel unsafe.

“We all deserve the right to a safe workplace,” she said. “It made me feel unsafe, and it also impacts on our staff as well. This is a repeat pattern of behaviour and quite frankly, the Victorian community deserves better than this.”

Allan condemned the Greens for their actions on Wednesday.

“It is unparliamentary. But worse than that speaker, it’s disrespectful to the Victorian community and particularly those communities, the Jewish and Islamic communities who are grieving for the death and loss of their families and loved ones,” the premier said.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the Greens intended to cause mayhem.

“It was premeditated. Obviously coming in here with signs, they knew what they were intending to do. They knew and intended to cause mayhem. It's not the first time as others have said.”

De Vietri said the government had a duty to prevent death and displacement of Palestinians and that Victorians had a right to know about agreements the government had entered into on their behalf.

An estimated 27,000 people have died in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza following the October 7 terror attack in which Hamas militants killed about 1200 people in Israel.

Greens leader Samantha Ratnam posted on social media platform X that she was “proud of my colleagues”.

“They’re on the right side of history.”

According to the rules of parliament, if the MPs refuse to apologise, the four politicians can be “named”– suspended – from parliament without pay. After question time the four MPs visited the Speaker and agreed to apologise to the chamber on Thursday morning.

After that meeting, de Vietri told ABC radio the protest was a “five-second action” calling for an end to the contract. She said Labor would like nothing more than to “deflect and look away from their potential complicity” in deaths from the conflict.

The apology comes after New South Wales premier Chris Minns warned parliamentarians about sowing division in the community following comments from a Greens MP who referred to the “tentacles” of the “Jewish lobby” during a rally in December.

NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong apologised and insisted she was not deliberately referencing historical antisemitic cartoons depicting Jews as an octopus when she used the word “tentacles” to criticise the lobby group’s attempts to “influence power”.