Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by Senator Cash because I think it is important that, as a country, we express absolute support for the right thing to be done for a people that have been oppressed in the most vile and evil of ways. While horrible, massive consequences flow from some of the actions that have been taken, they are necessary to protect peace and good order for a people who have had those taken from them for so long. To hear some of the other contributors to this debate talk about the need to condemn that vile regime run by the ayatollahs, but then, in the same breath, suggest that we do nothing about it is not what we, as freedom-loving, tolerant, democratic nations of the West, should do. This sort of activity requires response, not just words uttered in a Senate chamber a long way away. To hear these freedom fighters—as they are, most days of the week—basically say that we should just sit here, wring our hands, have dialogue, hope for the best and hope things work out over there is not what we're used to hearing from this crowd. But that's what they're saying now: 'Let's condemn them, and then let's hope that the rule of law and the rules based order prevails,' which is something that they don't often stand up for. I find it rather incongruous, given all of the contributions they normally make in this place on similar matters.

I had the good fortune last Friday of meeting a representative of the Iranian community, in Hobart, as a matter of fact—a local practising dentist, who'd had the blessing of being able to leave that country as a child, as things were turning into the environment that now is, in Iran, and to go abroad and study and, ultimately, to now be settled in Australia and be raising two children in beautiful Hobart. It was a great opportunity for me to hear exactly what the people who are left behind in Iran have been experiencing for some time.

We talk a lot about the oppression and violence inflicted upon women across the world. But it seems that, when it comes to Iran and what they have been doing to women and other minorities—the LGBTI community, Kurds and other racial and ethnic minorities—it doesn't matter; it's as though we should actually just let this continue on because that's what is right. I just can't understand it.

As was conveyed to me in that meeting, it's hard to find an Iranian who does not want the world to take decisive action to deal with the matters that that community, that country, those innocent people, have been facing. This is not an attack on the Iranian people. There's this language framing it up as a war on Iran and its people. That's not what this is. This is about freeing a people from one of the most vile, evil and oppressive regimes that has existed in modern history. That's what this is about. It's intended to save people from a regime that has inflicted immense suffering for such a long period of time.

At that meeting on Friday I was presented with a list of 82 names of individuals in Iran reportedly facing execution under the regime, some of them as young as 13 years of age. One has to question what on earth a 13-year-old might be doing lined up for execution under a regime of this nature. It's impossible to defend such activity, and I'll be interested to hear if anyone in this place ever thought it was acceptable for a 13-year-old to be lined up for the death penalty.

I had given thought to reading that list of names here, but I was advised—given the way the IRGC operate, in their clandestine ways and ways that are not supportive of freedom and democracy—that it was probably best not to put these names on the record. Certainly, I know they have been published online, and, if anyone should ever wish to review the list, I'd be happy to provide it to them.

But these are not just names, of course. These are lives. They are people. They're children. They're siblings. They're people who are on this list, facing execution, just because they're fighting for something we take for granted every day of the week: the right for women to protest, their right to dress as they wish, their right to practise the religion they want to practise, their right to continue to observe cultural norms that might not line up with what the ayatollahs think is right in their country or legal. This violent crackdown on people who participate in these protests culminating in the worst of circumstances, in the death penalty, is something that we can't just stand by and allow to continue to be perpetuated. We do have to take a stand. That's why what has happened—as awful as it is to observe—is right for this country, because it is a reset for these people who have been so badly treated by an evil regime since 1979.

If we leave these things unattended, if we stand idly by, as those who oppose this motion would suggest, and hope for the best, those people—those 82 names that I have here before me—will face execution. Execution is irreversible. You can't just pretend these things aren't happening. As I said before, these are people who are doing what they believe is right, doing things that in this country would be permitted by law and, in fact, embraced under our tolerant, pluralistic approach to life. Why can't we assist them in doing what is right for them, for their freedoms, for their country?

I join with others in condemning those who've said that these attacks over the weekend to remove from Iran leadership which is just pure evil—I condemn those who have condemned those attacks, because they are misguided to suggest that taking this decisive action is not right, is not what is in the interests of the Iranian people and will not help free them from this oppression. It's time they took a good, long, hard look in the mirror and realised what they are allowing to happen by not supporting motions like this.