Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs (House)) Share this | Hansard source

r BRENDAN O'CONNOR () (): I rise to speak on the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Magnitsky-Style and Other Thematic Sanctions) Bill 2021. This bill seeks to amend the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011, which was enacted by the previous Labor government to enable the listing of individuals and entities responsible for or complicit in egregious conduct, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, threats to international peace and security, malicious cyberactivity, serious violations or serious abuses of human rights and activities undermining good governance for the rule of law, including serious corruption.

This piece of legislation is an important addition to Australia's Autonomous Sanctions Act that, as I say, was introduced and passed by Labor in 2011. It significantly broadens the scope of activities that are counter to Australia's interests for which financial sanctions may be applied. For the past decade Australia's ability to implement sanctions against individuals was more limited to: those responsible for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and threats to international peace and security; and regimes that committed grave human rights abuses or acts of aggression. These sanctions enabled Australia to take seriously its international commitments to peace and security by further augmenting pressure on foreign regimes where UN Security Council sanctions had been adopted, such as those in Iran, North Korea, Syria, Zimbabwe and Russia. But it has become increasingly apparent that an update and a broadening of the scope of activities to which sanctions may apply is necessary.

We are more than 70 years from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As my colleague in the other place, Senator Wong, said of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

As Eleanor Roosevelt described it, the international Magna Carta for all mankind. With its foundations in the four freedoms espoused by her husband: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear … with its recognition that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and its implication that to be sincere it must encompass civil and socio-economic rights, it remains as profound as ever. And perhaps it remains as aspirational as ever.

While it's fair to say we've seen so many advances in human rights, we've also seen stagnation and deterioration. And, while the global pandemic has fostered greater awareness and debate in some societies about the devastations of poverty and inequality, in other places political leaders have sought to manipulate the circumstances of the pandemic to further weaken human rights in their own countries. Unfortunately there's nothing new in that.

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer and tax auditor who, as the minister has just mentioned, was hired in 2007 to investigate corruption by Russian interior ministry officials. Magnitsky was a lawyer, accountant and tax partner at Moscow law firm Firestone Duncan. He was arrested in November 2008, after he helped Hermitage, once Russia's largest foreign portfolio investor, reveal the biggest alleged tax fraud in the country's history. It's well-known that he died in prison awaiting trial. The Russian government of the day ordered the chief prosecutor and justice minister to launch an investigation. The $230 million crime allegedly involved senior police officers, judges, tax officials, bankers and the Mafia.

The Hermitage Capital Management CEO and founder is William Browder, an American financier who took British citizenship, and he is the grandson of the former leader of the American Communist Party, Earl Browder. The fund manager was alleged to have evaded taxes and was barred from the country in 2005, but its CEO denies these allegations. He urged all lawyers associated with the matter to leave Russia for their safety, but Magnitsky stayed. He was arrested after he testified against a Russian interior ministry official involved in a tax raid on Hermitage offices and officials involved in the $230 million fraud. He was charged with participating in tax evasion and, as we know, he met an ill fate.

In a large way, Magnitsky is an inspiration for this initiative and indeed the proposed legislation before us. It's in his name that advocates around the world have sought to shed light on those individuals, governments and regimes that use their power to crush dissent and resist accountability, and those that commit gross human rights violations. In the absence of comprehensive and effective global accountability, protocols that raise the cost of such behaviour, it relies upon nation states to act independently.

Australia, through the United Nations, ensured we dealt with this matter. It was the government of 2011 that legislated the Autonomous Sanctions Act to enable sanctions that targeted countries and individuals independent of multilateral arrangements. This has proved an important tool of Australia's foreign policy. It meant we were able to target those responsible for egregious behaviour, while limiting the negative consequences on others, by depriving access to capital, goods and services. But it is clear that we need to go beyond what has been traditionally considered, insofar as the realm of sanctions, threats to international peace and threats to security. We need to use sanctions to help support agreed international norms of human rights and be a force for positive change. It's therefore important that we do everything we can to prevent the deprivation of human rights in order to counter such action.

These sanctions will ensure those responsible can seek safe haven for themselves or for their assets in Australia. I think it's fair to say that, as a result of the efforts of Mr Magnitsky, we have seen enactments throughout various jurisdictions across the globe, including the United States, the European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom, since 2012. Labor has been calling for Australia to join our friends and partners and to introduce these sanctions for some time. Indeed, Senator Penny Wong and Labor colleagues have been raising these matters throughout recent years, as have, I might add, members of the government. We have been raising these matters with the Turnbull and Morrison governments, including with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The prevailing view in the government was that such a regime may not be necessary, that the Autonomous Sanctions Act already allowed for the listing of individuals and entities complicit in human rights abuses abroad. Labor took the view that Australia being part of the global Magnitsky movement was in our national interest, because it is in our interest that we work to generate and preserve global public good.

Shaping the world for the better, something all of us in public life should aspire to, includes promoting issues and principles which we believe are of common benefit to all our nations and peoples. That is at the heart of Labor's foreign policy tradition. These sanctions and formalised engagement with NGOs to target those responsible for human rights abuses are contemporary expressions of that tradition. Enshrining in law those actions that are counter to our interests is a very important signal to the perpetrators and beneficiaries of egregious human rights abuses as well as threats to international peace and security. Working with our like-minded partners would enable effective and timely targeting of individuals and entities responsible for such conduct while also minimising the impact on populations.

In December last year, as the minister referred to, the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade recommended that the Australian government 'enact stand alone targeted sanctions legislation to address human rights violations and corruption'—or the Magnitsky Act—that should be able to receive nominations from any source. On behalf of the opposition, I acknowledge the committee—the chair, Senator Fawcett; the deputy chair, Ms Swanson; and members Senator Ayres, Senator Kitching, Senator Patrick, Mr Gorman, Mr Hayes, Mr Hill, Mr Khalil, Senator McCarthy, Senator O'Neill, Senator Sheldon and Ms Vamvakinou—and its leadership and work to bring this bill into existence. The Morrison government did not respond to the committee's recommendations until August this year, but we are thankful we are now debating the bill in the House before rising this year.

I should also note that this matter has been taken up by members on both sides of the aisle. But I would also just acknowledge the fact that Senator Kimberley Kitching was awarded an acknowledgment for her efforts to bring this matter to the attention of the government and this place and the other place when she raised these issues. Indeed, she has been recognised by the Boston Global Forum for her efforts. I think that also should be noted, given her commitment to this cause.

What we have seen, I think it is fair to say, are efforts by advocates to do better and to amend the current act to broaden the capability to take on human rights abuses. Individual members of the opposition and, indeed, of the government—including you, Deputy Speaker Andrews—have advocated for the need to do more. We have seen other like-minded countries already enact legislation consistent with this approach. I think it's therefore timely that this matter is resolved and is dealt with before rising this year.

As I say, the government didn't respond to the committee's recommendations until recently, in August, and it has taken three months for this bill to be introduced. We believe the delays were regrettable. They sent a regrettable message. But, as I say, we have finally arrived where we should have arrived earlier. That Australia wasn't sufficiently committed and that we did not take human rights abuse seriously was a charge that we were laying against the government, and I guess it's fair to say through pressure by government members and by the opposition we have seen this matter finally put before us.

In the meantime, we have seen increasing disturbing reports of human rights violations around the world. In some places, political leaders have sought to manipulate the circumstances of the pandemic to further weaken those human rights. As we speak today, Chinese citizen-journalist Zhang Zhan is on a hunger strike and at risk of dying without the urgent medical intervention that she needs. Ms Zhang was sentenced to four years of prison in December last year for social media posts critical of the handling of the early COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

The 1 February military coup in Myanmar was a direct attack on the country's ongoing democratic transition. The subsequent violent crackdown against those protesting the coup saw thousands of political prisoners detained and civilians killed by security forces. But 10 months have passed and Australia stands alone amongst the UK, the United States, Canada and the European Union in not applying additional targeted sanctions against those responsible for the violence.

And now we have the reports that Australia's Future Fund, the taxpayers' fund, has been investing in joint ventures which have in some ways assisted these human rights breaches. The opposition has written to the minister and expressed our concern about these reports. It's fair to say—and I'm sure every member of the House would agree—that the Future Fund should not be investing in such matters. It should not be profiting from what's happened in Myanmar.

Importantly, the regulations of this bill enable the listing of individuals or entities that engage in serious violations of a person's right not to be held in slavery or to be required to perform forced labour. As we know, modern slavery, including forced labour and forced marriage, affects millions of people, including in our region. In 2017, an estimated 40 million people around the world were living in conditions of modern slavery. Approximately 25 million of these people were in forced labour situations. Research by the Walk Free foundation has found that one in every 130 women and girls around the world is living in modern slavery.

When it comes to criticising these violations, Australia cannot bring the moral credibility we need to the table unless we strengthen our Modern Slavery Act. Labor continues to call upon the Morrison government to work with us and the crossbench to improve the Modern Slavery Act to introduce tougher penalties for noncompliance and strengthen mandatory reporting requirements on possible exposures to abuses. Labor will do more than amend these laws; we will place ending modern slavery at the heart of our international human rights engagement. This includes sanctions against those directly profiting from forced labour and modern slavery.

It is incumbent upon the Australian government, we would contend, to prosecute our interests, including support of human rights and democratic freedoms. Decisions to implement sanctions against individuals and entities are, and should remain, executive decisions of government, taking into account all relevant factors, including foreign and strategic interests and implications for bilateral relations. But it would also be appropriate to consult more widely. The process leading up to this legislation, in our view, has laid bare how disinterested the current government is in serious engagement with human rights advocates and diaspora community groups. Too often their insights, not to mention their real-time reporting of on-the-ground knowledge, are ignored. Labor would seek to correct this.

We also believe that the themes of the bill under which sanctions can be applied are not wide enough. It does not cover violations of the rules and norms of armed conflict. It does not cover the crime of genocide or other crimes against humanity. It doesn't cover instances where rape and sexual violence are used as weapons of war. It doesn't cover the targeting of civilians or the manipulation or blockage of humanitarian aid in conflict zones. This is why we will amend the bill to enshrine violations of international humanitarian law, the law of conflict, as an additional theme under which sanctions can be applied. This is a view that has been clearly communicated by human rights non-government organisations, including Human Rights Watch Australia and Save the Children. I thank them for their constructive engagement in providing feedback to the government's bill.

We support this bill. It is overdue and there is more to be done, but it is important that we see this bill pass today and proclaimed in law so we can do better to deal with serious human rights abuses and prevent the ability of individuals to exploit circumstances where we see time and time again fundamental human rights being affected adversely and broken. I commend the bill to the House.

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