Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am extremely disappointed that the government has denied formality on this important motion about men in Chechnya being rounded up, placed in concentration camps, beaten and tortured on the basis of their actual or presumed sexuality. I note that our Minister for Foreign Affairs has indeed raised this issue with the Russian government and I commend her for doing so, but a lot more actions need to be taken—specifically the actions that I outlined in my motion of working towards a UN resolution condemning the Chechnyan and Russian governments of cutting trade and diplomatic links, of backing the UN's Free & Equal campaign, which raises awareness of homophobia and transphobia, and being prepared to take gay and lesbian refugees from Chechnya. I believe these are all very reasonable measures which would have a strong chance of being supported in the Senate. The Greens will be pursuing further action so that Australia does everything it can to apply pressure on Chechnya and Russia to end this appalling persecution.