Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Through you, President: as Senator Payman would know, we have imposed strict sanctions and other trade measures to restrict the import purchase and transport of oil coming from, or that originated in, Russia. Last month I announced our first sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet to help starve Russia's war machine of revenue. As a result of the measures taken, direct Australian imports of Russian energy products have fallen from $80 million to zero since before Russia's invasion. There has been bipartisan support for that.

What Senator Payman references at a systemic level is what happens to energy products which enter via third countries. As I've said publicly, regrettably the mechanisms we would need to track and monitor all energy products via third countries are not in place in those countries. We'll continue to look at what options we can utilise to place further pressure on Russia's oil revenues. I think the senator referenced the European Union ban announced on 18 July, which will come into place in January 2026. I note the European Union has not yet issued any guidance about how that would in fact be implemented.

I would also say—and I think the senator referenced this—Australians do expect businesses to try and avoid their supply chains inadvertently funding Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. The government does call on businesses to uphold that responsibility. But the answer to the question is, firstly, we have sanctioned and we have increased those sanctions, including on the shadow fleet. Secondly, regrettably, there are not the mechanisms in third countries to enable all the issues you raise to be tracked.