Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

One of my advisers has an old Zimbabwean banknote above her desk from a visit there in 2008. Its denomination is $100 trillion. That is 14 zeros. Zimbabwe's hyperinflation reached such peaks that it was forced to abandon its currency in 2009.

The political and economic crisis in 2008 saw widespread violence, with five million people in need of humanitarian support. Progress since then has been excruciatingly slow, but there has been some positive change. This is due in large part to the efforts of brave reformists who persisted and to the help of South Africa and the Southern African Development Community. In January, after a constitutional review process that took three years, political parties agreed to the text of a new constitution. Last month they announced that a constitutional referendum will be held on 16 March. These are positive steps that Australians can welcome, and we undertook to reward them.

Our sanctions on Zimbabwe up until now have been financial and travel restrictions against 153 designated individuals and four entities, an arms embargo and a prohibition on defence links. We have now decided to remove 55 individuals from our sanctions list. These individuals are not considered to be hindering democratic reforms or undermining the goal of free and fair elections. In accordance with the road map I announced on 7 February, the government will lift further sanctions when (1) a peaceful and credible constitutional referendum is held and (2) free and fair elections take place and a democratically elected government takes office.