Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I fully support the member for McPherson's motion, and I do so having listened to the speeches given by those opposite. For many months I have stood in front of the Iranian diaspora at many rallies and said we want this to be nonpartisan, and where there was progression on this issue, such as the removal of the regime from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, we praised you for it. Where there were limited and targeted sanctions, we praised you for them. So we don't come in here with this motion lightly. Yes, there is a convention that national security and foreign affairs is a largely bipartisan thing, but that is not a blank cheque for everything. It reeks of hypocrisy to hear that from those opposite, when you say that on the one hand, yet we've seen the Minister for Defence come in here and hurl abuse at this side for our decisions and our policies on national security and defence. So you will forgive me and forgive us for noting the hypocrisy. We will stand up for the Iranian diaspora in Australia. We hope to do it in a bipartisan way, but when that doesn't occur we will hold you to account. That is our duty as members of this place.

Two nights ago I had the fortune of speaking at a dinner in Melbourne. That dinner was put on by members of the Iranian diaspora who work at the medical profession. In attendance was Kylie Moore-Gilbert and a member of the Labor Party. It had bipartisan support, and that's the way it should be. When speaking to that room, I acknowledged their concerns and their courage. They were there to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, but did so with mixed emotions because they know it's hard to celebrate when your own home country has been devastated and terrorised like it has. This isn't a normal time, and we must recognise that.

Those opposite pointed to the supposed lack of action over the last 10 years. That is irrelevant because it all changed with the killing of Mahsa Amini. We know that, those opposite know that, the Iranian diaspora knows that and the Islamic republic regime knows that. That is why they reacted like they did. That is why we saw the deaths of over 500 people. That is why tens of thousands are now in prison. That is terror in its purest form—terror over a people who deserve so much better.

In my speech to that group I said I'm also new to politics, and I've noted that, when you're making decisions, you can walk through a values door. That's what drives you—principles of freedom and democracy, and serving other people. But you can also walk through a power door where you're driven by your own selfish needs, by the lust and seductiveness of power. This regime was a revolution in 1979 but they walked through the power door and they slammed it shut after them. Now that door is being banged on, by young Iranians, young women and young girls, and the regime is terrified—and they know it.

When I speak to people in my seat of Menzies—and I have the largest Iranian diaspora in Australia, and I'm very proud of that and I'm proud of them—they tell me this is a unique moment in history, and they want to give it the best chance they can. So they're pleading with us, they're pleading with those opposite, to give it its best chance. When those opposite stand up here and say, 'Well, nothing happened in the last 10 years; shame on you,' that is sending a message that they don't acknowledge this is a unique moment in history. They don't acknowledge that this is a time for us to give more power for us to their arm, for us to support the young women, the young girls, who are standing up to bullets, getting imprisoned just for dancing.

I commend the motion, and I commend my colleague in the Senate, Senator Claire Chandler, for the work she did in asking for this. We listened to the community and to those on the front line. On the eve of that report being handed down, the Attorney-General's Department presented the problem we have before us—a supposed problem in the Criminal Code. We accept that. But guess what? That's what we do in this place. We get to amend legislation. If it's not fit for purpose, we can change it. And the Criminal Code is not fit for purpose. You have our support to change it. It'll sail through this place and it will sail through the Senate. Work with us. Give more power to their arm. It's a unique moment in history, and they deserve our support.

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