Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank you for the call on this very important motion put by the member for Bruce. Sovereign governments around the world are exactly that and we have to understand that, as a nation, we have some recourse through our foreign representations, be they at a department level or be they at a member of parliament to member of parliament level. It is noted that the member of parliament—in this case, Julian Hill, the member for Bruce—spoke out and therefore another member of parliament, in their parliament, was questioned and responded. So it's not as though we don't exist. We do exist. In that existence, we have a responsibility to every Australian citizen overseas, as they have a responsibility to understand when they go into certain countries, especially their previous country of native residence or their family's country of native residence, exactly what they're doing and what they may be faced with by the regime of that country.

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