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

The government of Iran—the dictatorship of Iran—is killing Iranian women and girls. Day after day, week after week, women and girls in Iran are being shot, beaten to death or kidnapped and never seen again. They are being attacked by the regime's forces in their schools, their homes and in the streets for doing nothing more than refusing to cover their hair as the dictatorship demands or for protesting against the killing of women and girls the day before or the day before that.

If ever there were a case for democratic nations to stand up for the human rights of women and girls, this is it. Australia could start by leading the way on having the Iranian regime removed from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. It has now been six weeks since I first suggested that Australia must take a stance on this. By leading the charge on correcting this absurd and disgusting validation of the Iranian regime, we could have sent a message that, as far away from Iran as we are, we will not stand by and do nothing as women and girls are killed. But six weeks later, there's been not a single word from the Prime Minister or the foreign minister on Iran's position as an UN-endorsed expert on women's rights.

Many of our closest allies have already used sanctions against the Iranian regime to send a message. The US, the UK and Canada have all applied various forms of sanctions against Iranian leadership and the leaders of the so-called morality police responsible for much of the violence. But what actions has Australia taken and what sanctions has Australia applied in response to the murder of women and girls? None. Our government has not just done less than our allies and partners; it has done nothing.

Women and girls in Iran are showing incredible bravery, standing up to their oppressors despite knowing their protest is putting their life and their liberty directly at risk. Every day we see new stories of Iranian women defying the danger to themselves to take a stance for their rights and the rights of their fellow Iranian women. Today I read of Professor Mona Khatami from a Tehran university who, amidst a government crackdown on universities, cancelled her classes, posted a photo of herself without a headscarf to social media and said, 'We won't be back.' What courage. We have no way of knowing what will happen to Professor Khatami and thousands of other Iranian women who have protested in the same way. Tragically, we must assume that they are now in mortal danger.

As Canada's foreign minister told a meeting of the world's female foreign ministers last week, democracies have a moral obligation to help the incredibly brave women of Iran. Canada, like many of our international allies, has sanctioned Iranian leaders. Australia has not. To the immense frustration of Australia's Iranian community, we have heard nothing whatsoever from our Prime Minister or government about tangible, diplomatic actions Australia intends to take in response to the violence against Iranian women. It is not sufficient to simply say, 'Australia condemns the violence,' or, 'Australia calls on the Iranian government to stop the violence.' This is a time for action.

Authoritarian regimes which get away with violence and contravention of international law only become further emboldened to break more and more international laws and perpetrate more violence. So it is that in recent days we've learned that Iran is actively involved in Russia's assault against Ukraine through the provision of drones and personnel. Not content with killing citizens in its own country, Iran's rulers are helping Putin to kill citizens in another. What more does our government have to hear before taking action?