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

I rise to speak this evening on the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Bill 2024. The coalition supports the passage of the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Bill 2024. This bill seeks to amend the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 to confirm the validity of existing and future sanctions made under the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011. More specifically, this bill confirms that individuals and entities can be validly sanctioned based on past conduct or status, regardless of the time which has occurred between conduct and application of the sanction, and clarifies that, in circumstances where it is not explicitly clear whether a minister considered their discretion to list or not list, the listing is nonetheless valid where the person or entity meets the criteria for imposing sanctions.

Australia's sanctions regime—for example, imposing travel bans or financial sanctions or freezing assets held in Australia—is a key tool for Australia to enforce the values that our nation seeks to uphold. As the former coalition government made clear when we introduced Magnitsky style sanctions in 2021, we use sanctions to deny to those who do the wrong thing the benefit of accessing our economy and the freedoms that our democracy allows.

As has been highlighted since the sanctions imposed on the hundreds of supporters of Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, some of those individuals sanctioned have deep pockets and the desire and the resources to seek to exploit any technical avenue to continue to be able to access their ill-gotten gains that may exist in Australia. Recent court cases have shown the lengths to which some of these individuals will go to undermine Australia's sanctions regime. While the Federal Court ruled in favour of the minister in these cases, at least one of these decisions is being appealed. So the action that the parliament is taking with this bill here today, an action which the coalition supports, is to reinforce this parliament's unambiguous view that Australia's sanctions regime is robust and that the decisions of all previous Australian government ministers to sanction an individual or entity were intentional and remain valid regardless of any attempt by others to seek to challenge them.

Australia has a strong history of promoting and protecting human rights globally, supporting the international rules based order and acting in the interests of international peace and security. Certainly in the coalition we are proud of our strong track record in this regard. Former coalition governments imposed sanctions on Mr Putin, Russian individuals and entities and supporters of the Russian regime. These included using sanctions in response to the downing of MH17 and the murder of 298 passengers and crew, including 28 who called Australia home, as well as Putin's role in Russia's annexation of Crimea. We also imposed over 800 sanctions on Russian interests and supporters, including in Belarus, within weeks of Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of the Ukraine in February 2022. In opposition, the coalition has continued to provide bipartisan support for the Albanese Labor government to increase support for Ukraine, including by imposing additional sanctions on Russian individuals, entities and supporters. In December 2021, under the coalition, Australia expanded its autonomous sanctions laws to enable the establishment of Magnitsky-style and other thematic sanctions. I know I speak on behalf of a number of my colleagues on this side of the chamber when I say that we are rightly proud of the work of the previous government in that regard.

While the coalition has welcomed the sanctions that the government has imposed on countries since coming to government in May 2022, in far too many cases Australia continues to lag behind our international partners and allies in using our sanctions regime to the greatest extent possible to hold to account those responsible for human rights abuses. This government has a penchant for being a follower and not a leader when it comes to imposing sanctions. Australia needs to act swiftly to send a clear and unequivocal message that the international community will not tolerate impunity for gross violations of human rights and the rule of law.

We welcome the latest announcement, on 24 February 2024, from the government imposing further targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 55 persons and targeted financial sanctions on 37 entities, including sanctions targeting those involved in Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children from regions under temporary Russian control. However, sanctions targeting those involved in that same Russian deportation of Ukrainian children could have been done months ago. The reason we know this is that the European Union imposed similar sanctions in June 2023, the United Kingdom imposed similar sanctions in July 2023, the United States imposed similar sanctions in August 2023 and Canada imposed similar sanctions in September 2023. Yet it took Australia until 24 February this year to impose those sanctions.

Missing in that announcement of 24 February 2024 were sanctions imposed on those responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny, sanctions that the coalition called for on 21 February 2024. These sanctions came two days later, when the government announced targeted sanctions on seven prison individuals who were involved in this mistreatment and death in custody of Mr Navalny. Mr Navalny's death not only represents a profound loss for those who champion democracy and human rights around the world but also serves as a stark reminder of the criticality of taking all reasonable actions against the ongoing suppression of dissent and political opposition in Russia.

In December last year, the coalition called on the government to impose more targeted sanctions against high-ranking Hamas officials that would have a real impact in supporting Israel's campaign to disable Hamas and prevent it from committing such atrocities again. Almost a month later, on 23 January 2024, the government finally acted, announcing further counter-terrorism-financing sanctions on 12 persons and three entities linked to Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The coalition welcomed this, but I think it's important to look at the detail of what these sanctions were and when they were announced.

These sanctions were announced at the same time as the United States announced its fifth round of sanctions on Hamas since the 7 October terrorist attack. The latest US sanctions targeted:

… networks of Hamas-affiliated financial exchanges in Gaza, their owners, and associates, and particularly financial facilitators that have played key roles in funds transfers including cryptocurrency transfers, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza.

However, none of the entities or the individuals sanctioned by the United States in their announcement of 22 January this year were included in the sanctions subsequently announced by this government. All 12 entities and three individuals that Australia sanctioned last month had been previously sanctioned by some of our allies. For example there's Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, who they described as:

… a senior member and co-founder of Hamas who has worked closely with Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Zahhar has spoken publicly on behalf of Hamas, including in formal interviews, to threaten violence against Jewish civilians and emphasize its commitment to the destruction of Israel.

This individual was sanctioned by the United States on 14 November 2023 and by the United Kingdom on 13 December 2023. Another example is Ali Morshed Shirazi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force official who trained and assisted the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah and was sanctioned by the US on 27 October 2023 and the United Kingdom on 13 December 2023.

Rather than playing catch-up when it comes to sanctioning individuals, Australia should be working in lockstep with our allies—particularly with our closest friend and ally, the United States, and the United Kingdom—to dismantle Hamas's financial infrastructure, including from external sources, and block new funding channels that they seek to use to finance their heinous acts.

While the coalition, as I say, has welcomed the limited sanctions the government has imposed on countries since May 2022, when they came to power, in far too many cases Australia continues to lag behind our international partners and allies in using our sanctions regime to hold to account those responsible for human rights abuses.

I think it's pertinent to remind the chamber this evening of some words said by our foreign minister, Senator Wong. Prior to the last election, in an address to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Senator Wong called on the Morrison government to:

… consider targeted sanctions on foreign companies, officials and other entities known to be directly profiting from Uyghur forced labour and other human rights abuses.

At the halfway mark of their first term, no such action has been taken by the Albanese government.

On the August anniversary of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report into the forced detention and treatment of Uyghurs, Human Rights Watch Australia highlighted the action of the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada in applying sanctions and said:

The Australian government should join other democracies in holding serious human rights abuses in China to account.

By not doing this, what message is Australia sending? We can all draw conclusions about why Australia may not have acted, even though the coalition has offered bipartisan support for actions as a result of the United Nations High Commissioner's finding. By not acting, Australia weakens international efforts and the effectiveness of the efforts of others. As the Human Rights First coalition put it in their global review of Magnitsky at five years:

As powerful as it can be for one jurisdiction to impose Magnitsky sanctions against a human rights abuser or corrupt actor, the impact and legitimacy of those sanctions are multiplied as more jurisdictions join together to sanction the same persons.

In conclusion, as I said at the outset, the coalition do support this bill we are debating this evening, and we want to see its timely passage through the Senate. We reiterate our offer of bipartisan support for this government to impose targeted sanctions in line with those of our allies, whether that is in response to Russian abuses, to human rights abuses in Xinjiang or to numerous other instances of human rights violations.

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

Autonomous sanctions are a critical tool in Australia's contribution to international justice. They have been used to hold foreign governments and actors to account and as an expression of Australia's condemnation. It is truly vitally important that the ability of Australia to sanction individuals and groups that commit grievous harms is upheld and protected from undue interference. The Australian Greens support the intent of the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Bill 2024, which seeks to close loopholes. This will go some way to ensuring Australia's ability to continue to use sanctions effectively and often. The bill as drafted, however, does not go far enough in ensuring they are in fact used responsibly and transparently.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in its second report of this year raised concerns about the compatibility of this bill with human rights. Among concerns raised was the extent to which ministerial discretion could be used in the application of sanctions and the limited safeguards and opportunities for review. The recommendation of the committee was to implement a number of amendments to the autonomous sanctions framework. These recommendations included the incorporation of a review—indeed, multiple review points—into the process, regular reporting to Parliament in relation to the application of autonomous sanctions and widening consultation when considering applications of sanctions themselves. Many of these recommendations, first made by the committee in 2016, have not been implemented. There have been too many examples of successive governments failing to provide transparency to this parliament and to the Australian people. There must be avenues for holding the government accountable for both sanctions they choose to apply and the ones that they decide not to apply.

As such, on behalf of the Greens, I intend to move amendments to this legislation. Our community deserves to know when the government chooses not to put sanctions in place. A contemporary example would be that the community deserves to have an explanation as to why the calls of the Australian Palestinian community have not been actioned by the government, why the government have failed to place sanctions upon Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as the United States has done. One of our Greens amendments would require the foreign minister to explain why the government is unwilling to sanction these illegal settlers.

The decision to place sanctions can hold great importance to diaspora communities here in Australia and indeed across the world. The impact of the placement of sanctions must be understood by the government as part of and, indeed, before making their decision. As such, an additional amendment will be offered by the Greens, which I will move, which would require the government to set up avenues of community consultation when seeking to apply sanctions. This would ensure that there is an opportunity for the community to make their concerns and requests known and, importantly, for the government to be held to account by the community if they refuse to act. This bill as it is currently written is not even achieving the bare minimum of what is needed to improve our sanctions legislation, and the Greens strongly support going further in strengthening sanctions controls.

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens support the intent of the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Bill 2024. As my colleague Senator Steele-John has just said, this bill is designed to close loopholes, so we are in support of the bill. But as Senator Steele-John also said, there are deficiencies in this bill. There are things that this bill could do which we think are critical.

I was really proud to have worked with the former coalition government in 2021 on the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (Magnitsky-style and Other Thematic Sanctions) Act 2021 which set up our autonomous sanctions framework and gave the government power to impose autonomous sanctions to address particular issues. While our autonomous sanctions framework wasn't explicitly called a Magnitsky bill, it essentially enacted the Magnitsky framework and bought Australia into line with countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and others who have created legislative frameworks to impose targeted sanctions against human rights abusers.

Since that legislation was put into place, it has been encouraging to see the government use these Magnitsky-style sanctions on entities responsible for human rights abuses in Iran and Russia. But it has been disappointing to see the government fail to use our sanctions framework to the extent that it could be used, because it is a very powerful tool. Some of the committee recommendations that were made when we first set up this framework were that there needs to be more transparency and more independence. In particular, we wanted to see a framework that allowed for a more independent process to determine who should be sanctioned so it wouldn't just be the black box of the foreign minister getting to decide with no transparency at all and no accountability when choosing whose human rights were going to be protected. If there's one thing that we know, it's that we cannot afford to pick and choose whose human rights we protect. People's human rights everywhere across the world should be protected, and we should be standing up in this place advocating for human rights. Where those human rights are being abused, without fear or favour, we should be able to have a process that says, 'Here are serious human rights abuses going on, and there is a very strong case to apply sanctions to discourage those human rights abuses.' The amendments that Senator Steele-John is going to move on behalf of the Greens go somewhere towards supporting the integrity of this bill, and I urge everyone to support them.

One country we have not moved on applying sanctions, as Senator Chandler has spoken about, is China, but the other one in particular, given the genocide that is currently going on in Gaza, is Israel. We need to have a process so that these appalling human rights abuses can be independently assessed with the recommendations to go to the minister to have the evidence compiled and be made public as to why particular people should be sanctioned. In the case of China, we know of the oppression and persecution of people in Tibet and in East Turkestan. We know that the Chinese government is absolutely putting democracy defenders in Hong Kong under serious threat at the moment. There is such a case for Chinese officials who are responsible for these attacks on people to be sanctioned. We run the risk that, if we don't sanction them and the other countries that have Magnitsky-style sanctions do, we become the place of last resort where, if these officials can't get a visa to visit other Western countries or can't invest their money where they want to or can't send their children off to school or university in those countries, they end up in Australia. So we need to look very clearly and carefully at the other people who have been sanctioned by our allies and by the other countries that have got Magnitsky sanctions and consider very seriously if we want to sanction those people too.

In the case of Israel, the US has sanctioned illegal settlers in the West Bank. The Greens' position is that the entire Israel war cabinet should be sanctioned because of the genocide that is going on in Gaza.

Clearly, there needs to be a process to determine whether these sanctions are appropriate. We absolutely believe they are. The evidence is there in front of our eyes, and the International Court of Justice is saying that there is a genocide going on. But there needs to be a process and, at the moment, we do not have that process. All we have is a black box. All we have is a framework where the minister somehow decides who is going to be sanctioned. It's not good enough. We have to apply this framework and our concern about human rights without fear or favour for all people across the world.

In conclusion, this bill is a good start. It's good to make sure that the autonomous sanctions regime actually can work in the way it's been envisaged. But we need to be doing a lot more. So, while commending this bill, I urge all parties to support the amendments that the Greens have put up and I urge us to go further in order to protect human rights across the world and expanding who we apply sanctions on to make sure that our voice in support of human rights is heard in all situations, not just where it is politically expedient to do so.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are facing an increasing number of situations of international concern and heightened instability in the world. Given the importance of sanctions as a critical foreign policy tool, it is necessary to ensure that Australia's sanctions framework remains robust. Since being elected in May 2022, as of March 2024, this government has imposed over 500 sanctions in response to situations of international concern, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and human rights violations in Iran.

The Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Bill 2024 clarifies the operation of the Autonomous Sanctions Act to ensure that decisions made under the autonomous sanctions framework are robust. The bill also provides certainty and transparency to individuals and businesses so that they can effectively comply with sanctions laws. The bill amends the Autonomous Sanctions Act to confirm that sanctions based on past conduct or past status are valid. The bill also clarifies that, in circumstances where there is any perceived ambiguity in the operation of the act and the exercise of the minister's discretionary power, sanctions are valid. For the avoidance of doubt, the bill will confirm that the act and the sanctions framework operate as intended.

This bill will ensure that sanctions remain an effective foreign policy tool to demonstrate that Australia will not tolerate egregious behaviour and is willing to impose consequences in response. On that basis, I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.