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

I move:

That the general business notice of motion standing in the name of Senators Bilyk and Van, relating to Ukraine, be called on immediately and considered for 60 minutes, after which the question be put.

Question agreed to.

At the request of Senators Bilyk and Van, I move:

That the Senate, observing one year since Russia's 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine:

(a) deplores the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which continues a pattern of illegal and immoral aggression against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has resulted in a toll of destruction, many thousands of human casualties, and the displacement of over 14 million Ukrainians;

(b) condemns:

(i) acts by Russia aimed at destroying the national, cultural, religious and democratic institutions of the Ukrainian people and Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and

(ii) Russia for violating international law noting the clear evidence of war crimes being committed against the Ukrainian people;

(c) notes Australia continues to stand with Ukraine against Russian aggression and has provided Ukraine with military and humanitarian support, as well as refuge for displaced people and will continue to do so; and

(d) reaffirms the eleventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly, which also condemned, deplored and expressed grave concern over attacks on civilian populations and infrastructure and reiterates its demand that Russia withdraw from Ukraine's recognised sovereign territory.

It is with sorrow and resolve that I move this motion marking one year since Russia's illegal and immoral full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sorrow for lives lost, futures disrupted, civilians recklessly targeted by Russian missiles, and the hunger and hardship deliberately inflicted on the vulnerable of the world by a criminal Russian regime through the deliberate damage it has wrought on global markets for grain and energy.

But the courageous people of Ukraine can do little with our sorrow, so I also move this notion to demonstrate our government's and our nation's resolve. As Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady, has said, we are not commemorating a year of war. We are celebrating a year of resistance, a year of courage, a year of solidarity, and a year of Australia and our partners doing what we can to support the people of Ukraine. We have imposed travel bans and targeted financial sanctions on more than 1,000 individuals and entities in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We've committed more than $500 million in military assistance to Ukraine, including, most recently, $33 million for additional uncrewed aerial systems.

In late January I had the privilege of visiting the training grounds where ADF personnel are training members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of a UK-led multinational training program. We do many things in this job which are moving, but that was amongst the most moving of engagements I've had. I was deeply moved by interactions with the new Ukrainian soldiers, who only a year ago were teachers, farmers, professionals and more, now standing ready to fight against Russian aggression. Mr Putin and Russia have underestimated the courage of Ukrainians like these soldiers, and they underestimated the resolve of the global community. As I said in the UN last year, Russia is to be condemned for its illegal and immoral invasion. It should be condemned as an attack on all smaller countries. What it represents, fundamentally, is the assertion that a larger country is entitled to subjugate a smaller neighbour. On 24 February, Australia was one of 141 UN member states that again rejected this assertion—141 countries voted in support of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine; only seven voted against.

Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine has prompted many of us to look back at our history, at the horrors in Europe and Asia that led humanity—that led the global community—to establish the Charter of the United Nations. For many living through those times, it must've seemed that power and lies would succeed. In 1942, George Orwell published his reflections on the competing propaganda that swirled around the Spanish civil war. He saw competing propaganda and lies—what we would now call disinformation. He wrote of his fear that the very concept of objective truth was fading out of the world, but we know now that he was wrong. The truth, at great cost, eventually won out.

I say this to Russia and to its apologists and cronies: your crimes and your lies will not stand. In fact, you have only strengthened our collective resolve. You see, we have reflected anew on the type of world order we treasure—the lives lived to potential, the dreams and ambitions fulfilled and the common aspiration around this world that our children prosper in peace and live better lives than our own. Russia has reminded us again that these treasures, important to so many people around this world, are born of a system of rules and order respected by all. One year on, let us commit anew to these rules and laws and, in doing so, commit anew, one year on, to stand with the people of Ukraine.