Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am honoured to second this motion, and I thank my colleague the member for Canberra for bringing this motion to the House today. In Australia there are a few things that we fundamentally believe in as the base for our society—freedom of religion, equal rights for women and the opportunity that education provides all citizens. It is for these very same reasons that the Baha'is in Iran are now being persecuted. As the member for Canberra said, this has been going on for 30 years since the revolution that took place in that country at that time.

Australia absolutely abhors this type of treatment. I have had meetings with several ministers of foreign affairs in the previous government and in the current government, and I know from conversations with them that not only have the Australian government and the Australian people been lobbying the Iranian officials in this country but also our embassy and our officials in Iran have been talking about the plight of the Baha'is in Iran.

Recently, the United Nations Secretary-General's human rights report on Iran again reported incitement targeting the Baha'i faith and its adherents, and the destruction of sites of religious and cultural value. It is through the General Assembly of the United Nations that we have to continue this fight.

The issues surrounding the persecution of Baha'is was first brought to me several years ago by one of my constituents, Nasser Sedghi. Nasser is a Baha'i from Iran who has made his home in Dubbo and is a very well regarded and much loved citizen of that town. It is not without some irony that the people of Dubbo probably know more about the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran than many other citizens around Australia. This is particularly important for Nasser. His older brother Farhad encouraged Nasser to gain an education and encouraged him to make a new life for himself. He was able to do that because of the education that he gained. He is a very successful businessman in Dubbo at the moment. But four years ago Farhad Sedghi was arrested as part of a general sweep of people that were running the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education. Nasser's crime was to be taking part in educating people in Iran, that had been forbidden by the government.

One of the reasons that Nasser found himself as an academic undertaking education of others was that he was pretty well precluded from the workforce. He had a responsible job as an accountant in a large firm, but because of his faith he was sacked from that position, and so, in an attempt to make sure that others could receive an education and have the opportunities that he and his family had, he was involved in the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education.

It is hard to believe that in the 21st century we have this sort of persecution taking place. It is something that we read about happening in the dark past and in the dark ages, but this is happening as we speak today. People are being imprisoned not for committing a crime but for their belief in education and equal rights for women, and their support of a religion that only preaches peace and goodwill to their fellow man.

I am very pleased to be part of this motion today and I would encourage my colleagues in this parliament to support it. As a government we need to continue, directly through our representatives from Iran here in Australia and through the UN General Assembly, to keep the issue of the Baha'is that are behind bars in Iran at the forefront, and to make sure that they are free and able to practise their peaceful religion, as they are entitled to do.

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