Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In Bennelong, our Iranian Australian community is strong, proud and deeply connected to family and loved ones in Iran. Over recent years, I've heard from many across my electorate whose messages are clouded in desperation, many asking for hope and all asking for the stories of their family and friends to be told by those who can. Today, I want to use this opportunity of this debate to amplify the voices of the Iranian Australian community in Bennelong and to bring those voices directly to this parliament. I want to speak about their courage and about the horrific cruelty in Iran.

Earlier this year, the Iranian people once again did what free people everywhere have done throughout history. They asked for dignity, accountability and a voice in their own future. For that, they were met not with dialogue but with force. Iran has shown the world that standing up to an oppressive regime has no borders. Across countries, cities and communities, including my own in Bennelong, hundreds and thousands of Iranians have raised their voices to shine a light on what is happening to the women, men and children who are standing up to the regime in Iran. Inside Iran, peaceful protest has been treated as a crime. Grief has been criminalised. Arbitrary arrest, intimidation, violence and the silencing of truth have become tools of state control. Women and girls, journalists, activists, minorities, individuals have been targeted simply for asserting their basic rights. Many remain unaccounted for. Tragically, many more have lost their lives.

These are not abstract events on a distant news ticker for Iranian Australians. They are deeply personal, and their impact is felt far beyond Iran's borders. Families have been cut off from one another. People cannot call their parents, children or siblings. And, for those who can get through, many report something even more chilling: third parties on the phone listening in, interrupting conversations and warning them not to speak about what is happening. Here in Australia, many Iranian Australians live with a constant anxiety of not knowing whether their family are safe. They measure time in missed calls, unanswered messages and the terrible silence that follows a protest crackdown. And yet, despite fear and uncertainty, Iranian Australians continue to stand up and speak out in our streets in our communities and by bringing their stories directly to this parliament. Their courage doesn't stop at Iran's borders. It travels with them.

That shared courage inside Iran and across the Iranian diaspora carries with it a responsibility for those of us who have the freedom to speak to speak out, because the desire for freedom does not disappear when it's beaten down. It doesn't vanish when the internet is cut, when phones go dead or when fear is meant to do the regime's work for it. It simply finds a new way to be heard. When those voices are raised here in Australia, our responsibility is clear. Our responsibility is not to look away, because silence only helps the oppressor. Bearing witness matters and speaking truth matters. That's why this motion is so important and why I'm proud to second it alongside the fantastic member for Menzies, representative of the largest Iranian Australian community in the country. He serves that community so well, and I congratulate him for bringing this motion here today.

This motion moved by members of the government backs in our tough and principled stance against Iran since we came to government in 2022. We've imposed targeted sanctions on more than 200 Iranian individuals and entities, including over 100 linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We've strengthened our autonomous sanctions framework so we can directly target those responsible. We've listed the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism, which, importantly, criminalises here in Australia support and cooperation of the IRGC. We've backed that with decisive diplomatic action, including expelling Iran's ambassador to Australia and withdrawing our own ambassador too.

To the Iranian people inside Iran, in my home in Bennelong and right across the world, please know this: you are seen, you are heard and your call for change and your action do not echo into the void. Today they speak loudly, here in this parliament, and, for as long as it takes, we'll continue to share your stories, your struggles, and stand with you here.

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