Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Menzies for his question. I have, as well as the foreign minister, expressed my abhorrence at the actions of the Iranian regime in clamping down on the rights of woman—in particular, to wear whatever they want—after the tragic killing of Mahsa Amini. What we've seen is a clampdown on women, in particular, in Iran. As a result of that, I know that much of the diaspora here, like the diaspora around the world, have expressed their abhorrence at this action.

The Labor government will continue to work with our allies, including in multilateral forums such as the United Nations. I expect this may well be a topic that's also raised at the meetings that I'll be attending of global leaders over the coming week. I acknowledge the enormous hurt that Iranian people, but Iranian women in particular, are feeling at this very difficult time, watching this clampdown on human rights in Iran for things that we in this country take for granted. I thank the member for his question and I will certainly ensure that we liaise with him about further action that the government is considering.

We actually don't have a vast number of economic relations between Australia and Iran. One of the things we have done is make sure—and I'm sure that the Leader of the National Party would understand why we have done this—that, in any action that's taken, we're fully cognisant of the implications for Australian businesses of that. But we'll continue to speak out. We'll continue to vote in any forums in which Australia has a presence to ensure that the people of Iran—who are showing great courage in standing up for their human rights—know that Australia, as always and in a bipartisan way, is friends of all those who stand up for their individual rights, and, in this case, in particular, the rights of women.

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