PMB – Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
House of Representatives – 10:30-11:30am Mon 20 March
5 minutes
Deputy Speaker,
I rise to speak to the human rights implications of recent violence in Iran.
I think we have all been moved in this place by the bravery of the Iranian people and appalled by the brutality of the Iranian regime towards its own citizens as violence has escalated.
The people of Iran have not given up hope as they courageously demand full respect for their human rights, despite the threats against them.
And we stand with the people of Iran.
Iran's security forces persist with draconian methods to ruthlessly suppress peaceful protesters, including the use of lethal force and senseless violence against women and children.
I share the deep concerns in the community around the execution of protesters by the Iranian regime.
Nothing can justify these shameful actions.
Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people, everywhere.
We have been integral to building pressure on Iran internationally and were at the forefront of efforts to remove Iran from the Commission for the Status of Women.
Australia advocated for the successful Human Rights Council resolution for the establishment of an independent fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in Iran.
The Australian Government has consistently and forcefully raised our concerns directly with Iran.
Our Government has summoned Iran’s representative in Canberra on numerous occasions.
And our Ambassador has made representations in
Tehran, including directly to the Deputy Foreign Minister.
Australia will continue to raise these concerns directly with Iran’s representative in Canberra, through our Embassy in Tehran and in multilateral forums.
And we have called out Iran internationally, jointly with partners and in multilateral forums, most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva [1 March] where Assistant Foreign Minister Watts condemned Iran’s brutal repression of protesters and its ongoing, systematic discrimination against women and girls.
The Albanese Government is working deliberately and strategically to apply pressure on the Iranian regime.
We have imposed Magnitsky-style human rights sanctions on 22 individuals and three entities over their involvement in the Iranian regime’s abhorrent, flagrant, and continued human rights violations.
And today (20 March), the Foreign Minister announced Magnitsky-style human rights sanctions on 14 Iranian individuals and 14 Iranian entities over their involvement in the Iranian regime’s abhorrent, flagrant, and continued human rights violations.
Among those subject to Magnitsky-style human rights sanctions are Iran’s Morality Police and the Basij Resistance Force, and senior law enforcement and military figures–
including those within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC is a malignant actor that has long been a threat to international security, and to its own people.
The Gillard Government understood this and put broad-based sanctions on the IRGC as a whole in 2010.
The Albanese Government has also recognised the threat they present.
That is why we are using the tools available to us to take meaningful action, including sanctioning 12 IRGC-linked individuals and seven IRGC-linked entities.
Holding the IRGC to account is what the Albanese Government is focused on.
But terrorist listings under the Australian Criminal Code, which this motion calls for, apply to non-state actors.
Not state actors like the IRGC.
None of our like-minded countries have taken the step of listing the IRGC under criminal codes since the crisis began.
And we won’t be lectured by an Opposition that did not impose one single solitary sanction on anyone in the Iranian regime.
What was the last government to put sanctions on the IRGC?
Not the Morrison Government.
Not the Turnbull Government.
Not the Abbott Government.
It was the Gillard Government.
And the Albanese Government has taken stronger action against Iran on human rights than any previous Australian government.
Thanks Deputy Speaker.
