Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

We all learn from history. It has something to teach us all. One from history who inspires me is the great Yorta Yorta man William Cooper. Cooper was an advocate for Indigenous Australians, and he understood the age-old adage: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' Cooper was a man who never left this continent, but he protested outside the German consulate after Kristallnacht. In a world that chose to look away from the horrors of Nazi Germany, an Aboriginal man chose not to. He understood that, even among the powerless, even when at times it feels like we cannot make a difference, truth and light have extraordinary power. That's why, in this place, we call to mind the Uighurs, the Kurds and the Yazidi people, thousands of whom settled in Australia after the ISIS genocide. We should always stand with people who yearn for freedom.

Over the past year, the world has witnessed the waves of protest in Iran, with young people, women and older people standing against one of the most despotic regimes in the world—a regime that is getting worse. My electorate has one of the largest Iranian communities in the country. Persians are a timeless and ancient people. In my community, they're contributors and they're hardworking people devoted to family and community. That's what makes them great Australians. But as a community they're in pain.

A few months ago, a small group of Iranians visited me in my electorate office. They brought with them a large, hardback volume somewhat like a volume of an old encyclopedia that we might have put in our bookcases. Within that book were the names and images of thousands and thousands of people who have been executed. The spirits of tens of thousands, if not more, spoke out from the pages. Their families speak out. Their crimes cannot be hidden.

The Iranian people have great champions in this parliament, particularly on our side of this House. Earlier this month I was joined by one of those champions, in Senator Claire Chandler, who spoke to our Iranian community. About 150 members of our community participated in the meeting. Senator Chandler is a hero to the Iranian diaspora, fearlessly championing the rights of women who live in fear. The coalition stands with the Iranian diaspora. We remain committed to listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. It's in our national interest to do so. The IRGC operates at home and abroad. The Australian Signals Directorate has confirmed that guard affiliated actors have targeted Australian organisations with ransomware attacks. The IRGC is a known supporter of listed terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria.

Although the Iranian protests are not currently front of mind, we must keep bringing light to this subject. To this end, I'm writing to the Prime Minister, asking that Australia mentions Iranian human rights abuses in his address this year at the UN General Assembly. As a liberal, free and democratic people, we have an obligation to stand with those who seek such freedoms as well. We believe in the four freedoms that underpin human dignity: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. That's what the Iranian people are standing for, and that's why we must always stand with them.