Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We are living in a new geopolitical landscape—a new global reality that we must acknowledge, contemplate and respond decisively to. Our rhetoric must now give way to conviction. We must surrender any complacency for vigilance and move from ambiguity to moral clarity. The conflict in the Middle East is emblematic of all of this, in no small part because it's connected to terror, instability and other wars elsewhere in the world.

The Iranian regime is abusive, authoritarian and antisemitic. It has kept its own people in tyranny, brutalising and suppressing opposition, including demonstrations across Iran in recent months. It has sought nuclear weapons. It has created and fuelled terror and conflict in the gulf, supporting terrorism through its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Further afield, it has supplied weapons to Vladimir Putin for use in his illegal and immoral war in Ukraine, and we know now Iran has also aided and abetted the military junta in Myanmar—another regime characterised by tyranny and violence.

Recent reporting by Reuters has highlighted the alleged transport and supply of jet aviation fuel by Iran to the military regime in Myanmar for use in their military campaign against civilians. The article alleges the utilisation of the Iranian shadow fleet to transport fuel refined from the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, directly from the Bandar Abbas port in Iran to the Myan Oil Terminal in Yangon, Myanmar. On this, there are important questions for the Australian government.

The Reuters report identifies the two vessels used to transport aviation fuel from Iran to Myanmar to be a vessel named Reef and a vessel named Noble. Appropriately, the vessel Noble is listed on Australia's sanctioned list, but the vessel Reef is not. This evening, I'm calling on the government to detail how and when Australia's sanction regime will be amended to capture this additional vessel and associated oil refineries. This tardiness in Australia's sanction regime is inflicting carnage on innocent people.

Groups like the Chin Human Rights Organization and Amnesty International report that airstrikes by the military regime in Myanmar have escalated dramatically since the February 2021 coup, becoming a primary indiscriminate tactic to combat armed resistance and secure weakening territorial control. These attacks have resulted in massive civilian casualties, widespread destruction of infrastructure and mass displacement, with incidents of air and drone strikes growing by roughly 300 per cent in 2023. It's for these reasons that the decisive actions taken by the United States and Israel are so important and so pivotal. For the first time since 1979, the Iranian people now have a genuine chance to secure freedom and safety. This is an important opportunity, a turning point, a page turn in the history of Iran and the region, with a peace built on a proud pre-regime Iranian tradition and respect for human rights and freedoms.

These are the things that have shone through the efforts of the Iranian communities around the world and their supporters in their peaceful, consistent and determined calls for regime change in Iran. I continue to applaud these efforts in the cause of freedom and justice, especially those of the Western Australian Iranian community and their supporters. This evening I will briefly share a statement made by me at their most recent rally in support of the return of democracy and human rights in Iran, held in Perth last Saturday evening. It said:

For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been a profoundly destabilising force, both within its own borders and across the wider region.

It has ruled through repression, imprisoned political opponents, persecuted minorities, and denied its citizens the most basic freedoms.

At the same time, the regime has exposed instability abroad, supporting militant groups, fuelling conflicts, and threatening regional security.

Late last year, as Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I joined a delegation to the United Kingdom and Poland. The message was clear: that there is now an indivisibility between conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. (Time expired)