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WThe Defence Minister is being urged to cancel military exercises with Saudi Arabia while the nation continues to enforce a blockade on Yemen that has left seven million people on the brink of famine.
The ABC revealed on Wednesday that in August, the Royal Australian Navy conducted training with its Saudi counterpart on the Red Sea, not far from where the Saudi-led coalition is enforcing its naval blockade.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson told Parliament the Defence Minister must now take immediate action and suspend all military exercises with Saudi Arabia while it continues to enforce the blockade.
"Cancel any military exercises with Saudi Arabia, especially naval exercises, and make a statement that we find their blockade of Yemen and the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe there totally unacceptable," he said in the Senate.
Defence Minister Marise Payne told Parliament the ADF played an active role in the US-led combined maritime force in the region, but has not supported the Saudi action against Yemen.
"Our contribution to maritime security in the Middle East region … does not include enforcement of any blockade on Yemen. We are in no way involved in that process," she said in response to questions.
Senator Whish-Wilson asked the Defence Minister what discussions had taken place within Defence and the Government before the exercise went ahead "about the dangers of conducting this exercise now", referring to the "perception of complicity" in the blockade and "a taint on the Royal Australian Navy".
The Defence Minister did not respond to the question directly.
She described the training between the Royal Australian Navy and the Saudi navy as "opportunistic", saying they occur "from time to time" on a "opportunity basis".
Elaine Pearson, the Australian Director of Human Rights Watch, told the ABC that some opportunities "just aren't worth taking up".
"This is absolutely the wrong time for Australia to be sending the message to Saudi Arabia that is it just business as usual," she said.
Ms Pearson said Senator Payne and the ADF should be taking every opportunity to urge the Saudi navy to comply with international humanitarian law and stop obstructing aid to Yemen.
The Human Rights Watch Director said the Defence Minister did not answer the question of what exact assistance and training was being provided to the Saudis.
"We do absolutely have concerns if that training is about making the Saudi navy more efficient in how it carries out its business, because its business at the moment is about repeatedly violating international law," Ms Pearson said.
Senator Payne also did not reply to a question asking her to condemn the blockade of Yemen, saying she was seeking advice from the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The UN has warned that if Saudi Arabia does not allow the port to reopen there could be the largest famine the world has seen "in decades" and that "millions of Yemenis could starve".
Saudi Arabia has been accused of contravening UN security council resolutions by implementing a tight air and sea blockade that has blocked al UN humanitarian flights and closed the county's major sea port at Hodeidah on the Red Sea.
Seven million Yemenis are already classified by the UN as being on the brink of famine and Senator Wish-Wilson referred to recent footage of emaciated Yemeni children being treated for malnutrition.
"We have all seen the harrowing images. Barely more than skin and bones," he told the Senate.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, navy, defence-forces, world-politics, government-and-politics, federal-government, parliament, federal-parliament, australia, yemen, saudi-arabia
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