Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I agree, endorse and associate myself with every single thing that Senator Steele-John just said in this place. I was very pleased a few weeks ago to attend a rally with the good senator, which was convened by our wonderful Burmese diaspora, with respect to the human rights abuses which are occurring in Burma as we are here today.

This is an important issue, and our Iranian diaspora in Australia expect us to act. This place adopted Magnitsky sanctions, adopted laws, which would enable them to be imposed. They need to be applied. The fact of the matter is that Western democracies around the world are moving ahead of us at a rate of knots. The death of Mahsa Amini has been an absolute lightning rod for disaffection in Iran. It has come to symbolise the repression and violence against Iranians from their own government. This country needs to act. We need to act. Hundreds have been killed. The journalist who actually broke the story with respect to Mahsa Amini, Niloofar Hamedi, has been arrested after she took photographs of and communicated on Twitter the reaction of Mahsa Amini's family to her death. She has actually been put in prison. This is unacceptable. The Australian government needs to act. This should not be about partisan politics. We should be above partisan politics in this regard.

In relation to Senator Sheldon's point about us broadcasting the names of those who should be subject to these sanctions: you don't need to broadcast them. Just have a look at the press statement dated 26 October 2022 issued by Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States. They actually list the people who are subject to Magnitsky-style sanctions. They're already on the public record. I will go through the categories because these are the people who need to be held accountable for the atrocities and the brutalities that are occurring in Iran today.

The first category: six officials in the government of Iran responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses who hold leadership positions within Iran's prison system, including at Evin Prison, and in the provinces of Sistan, Baluchistan and Kurdistan, among others. You can read their names. The US Department of State acted on 26 October 2022. We're nearly in December. What are we waiting for?

The second category: three individuals serving as commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who have been at the forefront of the brutality. Again, they've been identified as individuals directly responsible for the suppression of peaceful protests and the arrest of peaceful protesters.

The third category: those people associated with what's referred to as the Ravin Academy, which engages in cybersecurity and the training of hackers, who are being used to stifle freedom of speech in Iran.

The fourth category: the Iranian commander in chief of police in Isfahan province, who has engaged in gross violations of human rights, namely the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of peaceful protesters. The names of these people are here. They're already the subject of sanctions imposed by the United States. What are we waiting for?

The Iranian diaspora in Australia expect us to act, and we should act in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Iran. There is no reason not to wait. I listen to and respect the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I know she cares deeply about these issues—I don't suggest otherwise—but there is potentially a systemic problem here. There is a systemic problem, in my view, in terms of Australia's response to human rights abuses, whether or not they occur in Myanmar, Sudan, Tigray, Ethiopia or, in this case, Iran. We've got these sanctions on the books. The rest of the world moves, and, for some reason, we don't move when we should move, when there's a moral obligation to move. That's what we should do. That's why this resolution is important. I'm sure all senators here would agree with the sentiments behind this resolution, but we need to act to enforce human rights.