Matt Gregg (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this important motion brought forward by the member for. Menzies. As the members for Menzies and Chisholm have already outlined, we have a wonderful Iranian community in Melbourne's east. They've been deeply concerned about the policies of the Iranian regime for some time, but this concern has only sharpened since the horror and outrage of the events we've seen since 28 December last year. The regime has massacred thousands of Iranians while attacking and arresting many thousands more for participating in peaceful protest. It has imposed nationwide internet and telecommunications blackouts in an attempt to conceal the scale of their brutality. The bravery of the Iranian people cannot be overstated. They have taken part in political action against a regime infamous for its brutal persecution of political activities. With the full knowledge of the evil they are confronting, the Iranian people have taken to the streets to fight for a better future.

My office has been inundated with calls and emails from members of the Iranian Australian community who have been watching the events in Iran in horror and anguish. My message to them and to everyone in my community is that I commend the bravery of the Iranian people as they stand up for their dignity and their fundamental rights. I strongly condemn the killing of protesters, arbitrary arrests, intimidation and the use of excessive and lethal force by the Iranian regime against its own people. Too many lives have been lost, and we continue to stand with you at this horrifying time.

The Albanese government is part of the international call on Iran to protect the rights of its citizens to peaceful protest and to cease the killing of protesters, the use of force, arbitrary arrests and telecommunications blackouts. They have to stop. Our government has taken strong action to hold the Iranian regime to account. We have sanctioned more than 200 Iran linked persons and entities, including more than 100 IRGC linked individuals and entities. We bolstered our autonomous sanctions framework to enable us to target those involved in oppression inside Iran, including against women and girls. We took the unprecedented step to expel Iran's ambassador to Australia and withdrew Australia's ambassador to Iran. The government listed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a state sponsor of terrorism. We are at the forefront of efforts to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women and co-sponsored the successful UN Human Rights Council resolution establishing an independent investigation into human rights violations in Iran.

Just last week, on 3 February, we imposed further targeted financial sanctions on Iran in response to the regime's horrific use of violence against its own people. We've taken this action in coordination with our partners, including the UK and the EU, to ensure these sanctions have the greatest impact. The 20 individuals and three entities sanctioned include senior officials and entities of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who are complicit in oppressing the Iranian people, violently suppressing domestic protests and threatening lives both inside and outside of Iran. These sanctions build on the Australian government's listing of the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism and our comprehensive framework of sanctions against Iran.

My thoughts continue to be with people in Iran as well as the Australian Iranian community, particularly my friends in Deakin, including Masoud and Emily from Radio Neshat, who continue to be strong advocates for their community—a community that, even in Australia, continues to live in some fear of the reach of the IRGC and the Iranian regime, which continues to attempt to intimidate diaspora communities around the world to try and silence dissent and to try and undermine efforts to tell the truth about what's going on in that country. I commend the principle and bravery of the many members of our Iranian Australian community in Deakin who continue to stand up to tell their stories, to tell the stories of other Iranians and to make sure that we, as members of parliament, are aware of what is going on and that that regime continues to be held to account.

I share the horror with other members of this parliament of what we are seeing from the Iranian regime and will continue to stand with the Iranian people and Iranian Australians as they continue speaking up for freedom and fighting for what is right in Iran. The people of Iran deserve to live in peace, they deserve to live in freedom and they deserve to have all of us stand up with them. I'm pleased to say that, across the political spectrum in Australia, we do just that.

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