Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to associate myself with the remarks of Senator Fawcett and Senator Rice on the report Criminality, corruption and impunity: should Australia join the Global Magnitsky movement?from the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.

A few years ago I saw Bill Browder, the employer of Sergei Magnitsky, being interviewed on Australian television. In that interview he outlined what had happened to Sergei Magnitsky. Effectively, he was employed by Bill Browder in Moscow and uncovered the embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars by the police force there. I won't go through the complicated financial settings of that company, but Sergei Magnitsky was detained by the police—the same people who had done the embezzling—and was tortured to death in jail. He was never charged. Obviously, this is a terrible and egregious violation of anyone's rights.

What then happened was that Bill Browder would not rest until Magnitsky legislation had been enacted around the globe. He went firstly to the United States, where former senator and presidential candidate John McCain was very instrumental in helping pass the first lot of Magnitsky legislation, and then the Global Magnitsky Act was passed. The UK has it, as Senator Rice has said, and Canada has it. The European parliament, just the other night, also approved Magnitsky legislation, and other jurisdictions in Europe have Magnitsky legislation. I think it's very important for Australia to have it. I don't think Australians want to give succour or any sense of security to people who have engaged in gross human rights violations or corruption. We don't want those people to be able to use our rule of law and our system to invest safely their ill-gotten gains. I again thank you, Senator Rice and Senator Fawcett.