Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Green for her interest in this matter and for her solidarity with the women and men of Iran who have been standing against the repressive and violent actions of the regime. I acknowledge that that is a position shared by, I hope, all in this chamber—certainly, many across the chamber have also been raising their voices.

I know that people would have been following events in Iran closely, and I think all of us would have been moved by the image overnight of the Iranian football team standing silent during their Iranian regime's anthem. This was a courageous act. By refusing to sing the anthem, they are actually joining a chorus in Iran and around the world that has grown steadily louder over the last two months. While the Iranian soccer team staged their protest, protests within Iran continued—especially in majority Kurdish areas. And so did the regime's brutal response. That response included attacking protesters, using machine guns mounted on vehicles and even using drone missiles. The death toll now runs well into the hundreds.

We all know that this started on 16 September with the death of Mahsa Amini, whose Kurdish name was Jina. Her unexplained death in the custody of the so-called morality police was a spark that lit a flame of protest that has spread across Iran and to the streets of cities around the world, including Australia. Protest activity has taken many forms—street demonstrations and women and girls removing their hijabs, with others also cutting off their hair. In solidarity with protesters, Iranian shopkeepers, factory workers and employees in the oil and petrochemical sectors have participated in strikes. We saw Iranian archer Parmida Ghasemi remove her hijab in a sign of solidarity during an awards ceremony in Tehran. (Time expired)