David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I stand to speak in support of the Autonomous Sanctions Bill 2010. The opposition supports the broad thrust of this standalone piece of legislation, which gives the government the ability to impose sanctions regimes without resorting to sometimes confusing and often messy legislation and regulations, such as in banking, customs regulations and other legislation related to the provisions of services and/or software. As I said, this is a standalone piece of legislation that brings together the Commonwealth's power to impose a vital diplomatic tool on certain circumstances arising in the international public policy arena. It also imposes standard penalties for those who contravene the provisions of the legislation and is consistent with the rules applied to the enforcement of UN Security Council sanctions.

I should pause to say that sanctions, and autonomous sanctions as set out in this legislation, are not the solution to every international and diplomatic problem. They are a very useful tool, but of course there are often unintended consequences with respect to the innocent populations within countries against which sanctions are imposed where they are deprived of certain necessities and other goods that people in Australia may wish to export. By way of a brief history, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Burma, Iraq, the former Republic of Yugoslavia and Fiji have all been the subject of Australian autonomous sanctions. North Korea has been subject to sanctions since 2006. As far back as 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the subject of sanctions.

As I have said, and speaking on behalf of the opposition, this is a useful diplomatic tool that is refined in this legislation and made more flexible and more effective. I pause to say that there have been some privacy concerns on the part of the opposition. The Senate committee resolved those to some extent. The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee went some long way towards setting out the problem and then indicated that it had been resolved in the legislation. I pause also to say that there appears to be no right of appeal or review with respect to an adjudication for exporters to countries that are the subject of sanction. The Defence Export Control Office is a classic example. An arbitrary decision by the Minister for Defence can inhibit the export of certain goods by Australian companies without them having any say or any right of review or appeal. That is a very unsatisfactory situation. I underline it simply to say that ministers need to engage much more with Australian industry on such matters. Having said all of that, I commend this bill to the Senate.