Professionals Australia Members In Solidarity With Palestine 

To the National Assembly, National Board, and Jill McCabe, CEO of Professionals Australia,

As of 15/11/2023, Israeli Defence forces have killed over 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza. As we write this letter, Israeli Defence Forces are invading the Al-Shifa hospital. The Israeli government is commiting genocide.

In our union we have health workers, chemists, and ambulance personnel. We are watching in real time as Israeli soldiers murder our members’ international comrades. 

Some of our IT, engineering, and science professionals work in companies which contribute to the Israeli government’s apartheid regime. These members want their labour to go towards bettering people’s lives, rather than to militarism and surveillance. 

Many of our members are from communities directly impacted by the war on Gaza and the ensuing racism which comes with the dehumanisation of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities. 

We refuse to be passive observers in the face of the ongoing genocide. The Australian labour movement has a long history of being at the forefront of international struggles for justice.

Organised workers in Australia were strong opponents of apartheid South Africa. Australian unions were instrumental in opposing Dutch colonialism in the Indonesian National Revolution which opened the way for Indonesia's independence.

Members of Professionals Australia have individually participated in and helped build the nationwide demonstrations against the Israeli government’s genocidal attacks on Palestinian people. 

But we need our union to back us, to keep building solidarity with the Palestinian people. In this process we will also grow the union and build a stronger labour movement. 

A union which struggles against oppression is one which recruits and energises workers who want to do the same - both at work and in wider society. 

For many oppressed groups there is no distinction: their struggles at work are political, and political events impact their safety at work.

We are inspired by workers in unions like the Australian Services Union, the National Tertiary Education Union, and the Maritime Union of Australia, who are organising as Unionists for Palestine, representing their unions and signing people up at the demonstrations. 

We support the call for Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS), particularly from the perspective of workers refusing to handle goods destined to be used against the Palestinian people. We also call on the Australian government to cut all ties with the apartheid state of Israel. [1]

We urge the National Assembly to align itself with members who have already pledged their support, as well as the undersigned members, by endorsing Professionals Australia's inclusion in the "Union Members in Solidarity with Palestine" statement [2]. 

[1] https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid 

[2] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bCMpFTf8dTWZj-yL1zu0uYEy8m7z12cmnEmdCbR8_bY/  


Signed,

Melody Kelly, Managers and Professionals Division

Gabrielle Pei Tiatia, Professional Scientists Division

Jayden Awarau, IT Professionals Division

Andrew Macdermid, Ambulance Managers and Professionals Association 

Tim Colwill, Managers and Professionals Division

Grace Sweeney, Managers and Professionals Division

Benjamin Laird, Association of Professional Engineers

Ty Wilson-Brown, Managers and Professionals Division

Isaac Waugh, IT Professionals Division

Lachlan Monsted, Managers and Professionals Division

Maize Wallin, Managers and Professionals Division / GWA

Arunav Neil Sarkar, Managers and Professionals Division 

Mitchell McCausland, Managers and Professionals Division

Sarah Pavlich, Managers and Professionals Division / GWA

Brendan Raga, Managers and Professionals Division / GWA

Cailean Congedo / GWA

Liam Routt, Managers and Professionals Division / GWA

Elliot Cox, GWA Member

Brayden Aguilera, IT Professionals Divison

Brenna Hillier, GWA

Jack Zanardo, IT Professionals Division

Conor Aitken, Managers and Professionals Division

William Reynolds, Managers and Professionals Division

Wyndham Morland, Managers and Professionals Division

Cain Maddox, GWA

Gyle dela Cruz, IT Professionals Division

Anthony Baxter, IT Professionals Division

Sami Peachey, IT Professionals Division 

Amos Wilksch, GWA

Daniel O’Connor, Software Engineer

Caspian Baskar,  IT Professionals Division 

Taylor Manderson, Managers and Professionals Division 

Jacqueline Leykam, IT Professionals Division 

Hailey Somerville, Professionals Australia 

Bronte Kalebic, IT Professionals Division 

Madeline Miller, Professionals Australia 

Robin Howard, IT Professionals Division 

Amari Watson, Professionals Australia 

Loretta Gasparini, Professional Scientists Division

Huw Evans, IT Professionals Division 

Tom Isles, Professionals Australia 

George Mountakis, Professionals Australia 

Max Davy, IT Professionals Division 

David De Boos, Professional Architects Division 

Ashwin Sarkar, Professionals Australia

Ron Witton, Translators and Interpreters Division

Nhi Tran, Professionals Australia

Mark Hansen, IT Professionals Division

Daisy Leigh Brenecki, IT Professionals Division

Albey Amakiir, Game Workers Australia Division

Emma Puls, Managers and Professionals Division

Adam Walmsley, IT Professionals Division

Alex Short, Game Workers Australia Division

TImothy Chaston, IT Professionals Division

Morgan Little, Game Workers Australia Division

Levi Weitenberg, Professionals Australia

Bonnie Gordon, Professional Architects Division 

Rory Dungan, Game Workers Australia 

Emily Bennett, Professionals Australia 

Sean Budd, IT Professionals Division 

Taimur Azhar, Professionals Australia 

Imad Mahmoud, Professionals Australia 

Thomas Bredin-Grey, Professionals Australia 

Samuel Prater, Professionals Australia

Ben Lambell, IT Professionals Division 

Oliver Darvas, Association of Professional Engineers Division 

Maddie Jones, IT Professionals Division 

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This open letter is an initiative of Professionals For Palestine. 

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