Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I'm going to talk on the foreign affairs part of this discussion, and my very good friend here will talk on the trade aspects. We've got some serious questions that we'd like the government to answer. When it comes to foreign affairs, it is a shame that the Minister for Government Services has left the chamber, because I know he's going to a very important meeting regarding Ukraine, and he's saying that he will be standing with Ukraine. Well, what we would like the Minister for Government Services to say when he goes over there is that Australia is going to reopen its embassy in Ukraine, in Kyiv. Given that around 70 other countries, including Canada, which previously hosted the Australian embassy in Kyiv, have been able to reopen their embassies, we need to know: why is the Albanese Labor government making Australia, as Michael Fullilove from the Lowy Institute puts it, a 'notable laggard' and, as Mick Ryan says—and I take my hat off to Mick Ryan for his outstanding work on Ukraine—'unserious' and 'interested but not committed to supporting Ukraine'? We would really like an answer to that question.

The second question is also with regard to Ukraine. Australia used to be the largest non-NATO contributor to Ukraine. Japan and South Korea have already overtaken Australia's financial contributions to Ukraine, and they've managed to reopen their embassies in Ukraine ahead of Australia. When will the Albanese government admit that their late and half-hearted decisions have resulted in Australia losing its leadership role in supporting Ukraine? And when will we up our financial contribution and other contributions to Ukraine? Why does the Prime Minister's rhetoric talk about standing with Ukraine but his actions are to have our ambassador standing over the border in Poland? As someone who has worked as a diplomat, I know it is very difficult to do your job when you're not actually present in the country. So, we want an answer from the government as to when this decision is going to be taken.

I'll just give you a sense of the types of countries that have a diplomatic presence, have embassies, in Ukraine: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Chechnya, Denmark, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, United States, Egypt, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, India, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Libya. It is a fairly comprehensive list, and when you read out every one of those names it puts Australia to shame, sadly.

I know we've got the minister here, and maybe he can take this message back to the senior minister: when are we going to see the embassy in Kyiv reopen? If ever there was a time when countries needed to stand with Ukraine, it is now. If ever there was a time when we needed to stand up to totalitarianism, it is now. If ever there was a time for us to stand up and defend liberal democratic principles, it is now. If ever there was a time for us to stand up and say to Vladimir Putin, 'Your treachery, your heinous behaviour will not be tolerated; we will not let you bully this sovereign, independent country,' that time is now. The heinous crimes he is committing in Ukraine need to be stopped, and we need to stand with Ukraine. Opening our embassy in Kyiv would be a very good first step.

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