Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Iranian-Australian community will be devastated with this response and the refusal of the government to accept the vast majority of the recommendations of the Senate inquiry into the human rights implications of recent violence in Iran. It is staggering that the government would wait seven months to release this response to a committee inquiry that was undertaken urgently to respond to a crisis situation. And the government has waited until the week of the anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini's death to refuse to accept these recommendations, which were based on more than 1,000 submissions received and a huge amount of expert evidence.

On 30 April this year, three months after the Senate committee handed down our report, a coalition of Iranian-Australian community groups and a long list of members of the diaspora community wrote to the Prime Minister and to the foreign minister. In that letter they said: 'We refer you to 12 actions recommended by the Senate References Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in conclusion of its public inquiry in February 2023. These recommendations are informed by over 1,000 submissions from individuals, Australian and international experts, universities, and community organisations. Also backing them are nearly 55,000 signatures on our parliament petition and weeks of continual protests. That petition said: 'We, Australians and members of the Iranian-Australian community, stand in full support of the recommendations of the Senate's report and demand nothing short of full and prompt implementation of all 12. We appreciate that officials of your government often highlight the actions taken thus far, but the gap between the current and wanted positions is still deep and wide.'

The letter goes on: 'Dear Prime Minister, our sisters and brothers in Iran are keeping the fight up against the evil of the Islamic Republic, and we have sworn to stand by them until the end. Rest assured that we will not tire, nor be distracted. Words and excuses do not go a long way when crime against humanity is at stake. Disassociate yourself, your government and our nation from the Islamic Republic corrupt criminals. Stand on the right side of history. Implement the 12 recommendations.'

This is just one of numerous letters and emails from the Iranian-Australian community, urging the government to act on this report and to implement the recommendations. I'm absolutely staggered that the government hasn't accepted all of these recommendations, but I'm particularly staggered that they haven't accepted this one:

The committee recommends that any Iranian officials in Australia considered to be involved in intimidation, threats, or monitoring of Australians be expelled.

How can the government not accept that recommendation, when the government and the Australian public know that intimidation and harassment of Australians is occurring, and has even been publicly attributed to the Iranian regime?

The home affairs minister said that this will not be tolerated, and yet now the government has not accepted a recommendation that any Iranian officials involved in harassment or intimidation of Australians be expelled. The government hasn't accepted recommendations to minimise relations with the IR regime, or even the recommendation to increase transparency and to better inform the Australian public of the status of our diplomatic relations with the IR regime and the security risks that represents relating to cybercrime, hostage diplomacy and threats and intimidation of Australians. Iranian Australians have been so brave in speaking up and urging this parliament and this government to act. They know they're taking a risk to their personal safety in opposing the IR regime by turning up to rallies, making submissions and writing letters. It is devastating that the government's response accepts just two of the 12 recommendations in full and one in part.

As I said yesterday in this place in the debate on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death, this comes at a time when the IR regime is successfully growing its influence, expanding its state-sponsored terror activities, extracting billions of dollars in ransom—which was released to them today—and continuing to get closer to developing a nuclear bomb. I'm reminded again of the words of Sydney Peace Prize recipient Nazanin Boniadi who, in an address to parliamentarians earlier this year, said that for 44 years we have tried the same policies and expected a different outcome: that's the definition of insanity. This response looks and feels like a document which the IR regime can live with.