Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Less than a month ago we were here in the Senate marking the two-year anniversary of the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of the Iranian regime. I spoke about the violence and the terror that the people of Iran are subject to and the staggering number of sham trials and state executions conducted by the Iranian regime against their own people. Women in Iran are subject to particularly horrendous oppression and violence. This treatment drove the Women, Life, Freedom movement, which was not mentioned once in the opposition's motion. You can't talk about the human rights abuses of the Iranian regime without talking about the oppression of women or discrimination against the Kurds or suppression of political protest. Yet today the opposition, very clearly, are not interested in talking about the very real crimes of the Iranian regime. They are interested in amplifying the war drums being beaten in certain parts of the media. We oppose in the strongest possible terms any illegal retaliation by the State of Israel on Iran, as we oppose any such further action by Iran on Israel. All parties involved must de-escalate.

The Australian Greens have been consistent in our calls for the Australian government to listen to the Iranian community and place pressure on the regime, including listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. We absolutely condemn the Iranian regime, but we will not be party to the blatant warmongering that is implicit in this motion. I therefore seek leave to amend the motion in the terms circulated in the chamber in my name.