David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion, and I'd like to thank the members for Moreton, McPherson and Fisher for their comments thus far. We don't want to do a tit-for-tat discussion. The member for Moreton has just outlined the actions of the current government, and I'm very pleased they've done that. I acknowledge that work. I stood at the table myself and introduced the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Magnitsky-style and Other Thematic Sanctions) Bill to this House, and I was very keen to get some action happening utilising that legislation. But that is history now; we're dealing with the present.

We're dealing with, at this juncture in the state of Iran, the bravery of hundreds of thousands of their citizens who are in the latest round of popular protest against the Iranian theocracy and in particular the work of the Iranian revolutionary guard, which have acted maliciously since they first came onto the scene at the creation of the current state of Iran back in 1979. Onwards since then, they have kept the lid on any skerrick of departure from an Islamic theocratic state.

The most recent round of popular protest, triggered by Mahsa Amini for not wearing her hijab correctly, is the last of many. Back in 2017, there were popular protests, with 100 cities demonstrating, 25 deaths and 4,000 arrests. A very prominent young activist, Navid Afkari, got a bit of attention when he was finally hanged because of those protests back in 2020. In November 2019, there was a similar wave of popular uprising against the loss of human rights and the rigid imposition of the religious and morality police. An estimated 1,500 died in those two weeks. Then, since September 2022, protests have risen to the fore. Former Iranian citizens are living in many countries, and the sight of children being killed in indiscriminate violence during these protests, and people being arrested and prescribed a death sentence under the auspices of the so-called justice system, is an offence to the whole human race.

Just recently, the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee received almost 900 submissions to its inquiry into the human rights implications of recent violence in Iran. The vast majority of the submissions were confidential and anonymous, and that is because members of the IRGC are active in many countries outside of Iran. The Belgians caught an Iranian diplomat planning a terrorist act in Paris during one of the rallies a couple of years ago, and many people are aware that Iranian actors have attended universities and received support from their country. The recommendations in the committee's report are substantial. I fully support the concept of listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. The legalities outlined by the honourable minister are noted, but, like the member for Fisher said, if that's the case, we just need to get together and change the legislation so we can list it. America has managed to list it, the European Parliament has achieved this and the UK is in the same situation. It would mean funds couldn't be sent to Iran to support the malignant theocracy that suppresses anyone who doesn't observe 'modesty' or follow the religious and social rules that are pressed upon them—whether they are a child, a woman or a man. It would be a good thing if we looked seriously at legislative change so that we could list the IRGC.

But the main thing that we have to address is that this is an unjustifiable system of oppression of all the basic human rights. It's not just that it is pro-Islam, but, whether you are Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian or whatever religion, if you are not following the strict diktats of how the Islamic revolutionary guard interprets things, your life is at risk—and this should stop.

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