Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On 16 September 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa 'Jina' Amini died after being violently arrested and detained by Iran's so-called morality police. Her alleged crime was not covering her hair in public. For this, she lost her life. Over the last 12 months, tens of thousands of Iranians, including many thousands of young women and girls, have been severely injured, arbitrarily detained, sexually assaulted or killed at the hands of Iranian authorities. Despite this, young Iranians, led by extraordinarily brave women, have courageously continued to fight for their human rights and the future of their country. They have been met with violence and severe repression, but they persist and they will continue to persist. They deserve our support, just as the Islamic Republic of Iran regime deserves the world's condemnation.

The IRI regime is responsible for severe human rights violations. It is responsible for the oppression of women and girls. It is responsible for terrorism not only in its own region but exported across the world. It is responsible for funding and providing direction to designated terrorist organisations including Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It is responsible for political assassinations and bombings. It is responsible for ongoing attempts to assassinate or abduct its critics living in Western countries. It is responsible for major cybercrime and hacking aimed at damaging Australia and our allies. It is responsible for abducting Western citizens for the purposes of gaining ransom in the form of billions of dollars and gaining leverage over Western nations. It is responsible for providing drones and weaponry to Putin to prolong his invasion of Ukraine and to kill and injure Ukrainian civilians. It is attempting to build nuclear weapons and, along the way, to use its nuclear weapons program to extract funding and concessions from the West. And it is responsible for directly targeting Australians on Australian soil with threats to their safety and to the safety of their family members in Iran. It has done this repeatedly and regularly over the last 12 months in an attempt to silence its critics here in Australia. This is just a partial snapshot of the evil and malignant behaviour of the Islamic Republic of Iran regime.

The fact that the regime is engaged in all of the above behaviour is not in any dispute. It is all known and acknowledged by governments the world over, including our own. Because of the inquiry of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, which was supported by all members in this chamber, this behaviour is known to all of us in this parliament. However, I do note that, more than seven months since our committee reported, this government is yet to release its response to the report or to implement the majority of the recommendations made.

It is important that this Senate once again today, on the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, demonstrates our complete and unequivocal condemnation and opposition to all the abhorrent behaviour I have outlined here this afternoon. But it is even more important that Australia takes action to make the regime accountable for all it has done and continues to do that trashes human rights and a rules based international system. The Islamic Republic of Iran regime wants to be able to behave as a criminal and terrorist regime, to kill and injure with impunity but then to be treated as a reputable player in global affairs—to enjoy the trappings of international diplomacy, to reap the rewards of quiet backroom dealings and to be appointed to leadership positions at the United Nations. The most concerning thing is that they are getting away with it. They are growing their influence in the region. They are earning billions from evading sanctions and through ransom. They are still being appointed to United Nations positions.

It is not acceptable that we are still told that it's not appropriate to talk in a public forum about the regime's attempts to threaten Australia and leverage our country. It is the IRI regime that wants to supress public discussion of its behaviour, and we must not give in to that.