Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 16 September 2022 Mahsa Amini, with dark-brown eyes and a gentle smile, died after succumbing to her injuries caused by a brutal detainment by the Iranian morality police on the charge of violating Iran's mandatory dress code. She was just 22. She left a devastated family, and the promise of a life completely unfulfilled. Mahsa became the face of the movement that called for fundamental human rights under the three simple words that have been repeated here in the chamber and continue to echo around the world: woman, life, freedom.

One year on, we remember this tragedy and we continue to push for justice for her and her family. I stand in solidarity with my colleagues in this chamber and the other place, and I acknowledge the very significant contribution led by Senator Scarr, who cited a report. In a country such as ours—a free democracy—we take the right to report, the right to investigate, and the right to put these things on the record in our own countries and internationally for granted. But a document that records historical evidence of the kind that you put on the record is a very, very powerful tool, and an ever-present reminder that cannot be erased of what happened—sadly, not just to Mahsa Amini but also to so many women and children in Iran.

I say to the Iranian-Australian diaspora, in the same vein indicated by Senator Scarr, that we will continue to agitate for democratic principles everywhere in the world, and we will not forget Mahsa Amini. We haven't forgotten, we won't forget and we will, carefully, act. That is a really important part of what good governments do. We can't afford simply to be protesters that continue to protest forever. We have to build multilateral relationships of trust. We have to deliver the kinds of opportunities for economic growth, civic education, possibility and partnerships that are necessary to do the hard work of generating democracy in countries where it has either been dismissed, been trashed or never really fully arrived and developed.

The Albanese government is deeply concerned with the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian regime's flagrant and widespread disregard for the most fundamental human rights of its own people is a deep contradiction of the values that the Australian government and its citizens hold dear: democracy, human rights, suffrage and freedom of religion. These are fundamentals in our society, and they rightfully colour our relations with all other nations. Australia is a nation proud of our values. We're not afraid to hold that conviction, if necessary, in contrast to and against nations that show brazen contempt of those critical values. Australia stands with the people of Iran as they courageously demand full respect for their human rights despite the threats against them.

On a personal level, I am a steadfast supporter of women and international human rights. I note that Iran is in fact a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as a signatory it should honour the ideas, the values and the principles that underpin that document and to which it has already agreed. It was a good idea for the Iranian people to sign up in support of the United Nations. It is a good idea for them now to implement the values to which they remain signatory.

Australia is holding the perpetrators of the Islamic Republic of Iran to account in an orderly, multilateral way. We are certainly at the forefront of efforts to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women, demonstrating Australia's practice of upholding those democratic values in the international arena. We cosponsored and advocated for the successful Human Rights Council resolution establishing an independent investigation into human rights violations in Iran, and the Australian government has imposed three packages of sanctions. Our work is not done, and today— (Time expired)