David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've just come from a hearing into the Iranian regime. What we heard loud and clear is that this government is absolutely useless when it comes to taking action against authoritarian regimes. For them to keep on talking about their concerns and not do anything about it is disgusting. There is a protest going on out the front right now of people calling on this government to do more, to put sanctions against authoritarian regimes.

When we were in government, straight after the invasion of Russia we imposed sanctions on Russian authoritarian members of the Duma and the oligarchs. There are members of the Iranian guard that should have sanctions against them. There are more things the Australian government should be doing. I heard one of my friends that I met in Kyiv earlier this year, Inna Sovsun, talk about how bad the winter is, how she has no heat or electricity. Yet this government won't declare Russia a terrorist state. The EU has, and rightly so.

I call on this government to put sanctions on the Iranian regime. I call on this government to declare Russia a terrorist state in line with international law. There is so much we can do and there is so much that we should do, yet this government is doing nothing. All we hear is rhetoric. All we hear from the Prime Minister and the foreign minister is: 'We're concerned. We condemn this.' But they're taking absolutely no action. People out there, people out the front of Parliament House right now, want this government to take action now.