Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition supports the passage of the Autonomous Sanctions Amendment Bill 2024. The bill seeks to amend the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011, the act to confirm the validity of existing future sanctions made under the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011. More specifically, the bill confirms that individuals and/or entities can be validly sanctioned based on past conduct or status, regardless of the time which has occurred between conduct and application of the sanction, and clarifies that, in circumstances where it is not explicitly clear whether a minister considered their discretion to list or not list, the listing is nonetheless valid where the person or entity meets the criteria for imposing sanctions.

Australia's sanctions regime—for example, imposing travel bans or financial sanctions freezing assets held in Australia—is a key tool for Australia to enforce the values that our nation seeks to uphold. As the former coalition government made clear when we introduced the Magnitsky-style sanctions in 2021, we use sanctions to deny those who do the wrong thing the benefit of accessing our economy and the freedoms that our democracy allows.

As has been highlighted since the sanctions imposed on the hundreds of supporters of Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, some of those individual sanctions have deep pockets and the desire and resources to seek to exploit any technical avenue to continue to be able to access any ill-gotten gains that may exist in Australia.

Recent court cases have shown the lengths to which some of these individuals will go to seek to undermine Australia's sanctions regime. While the Federal Court ruled in favour of the minister in these cases, at least one of these decisions is being appealed. We want to ensure that we are able to prevent, for instance, any Russian who has been involved with that deplorable, illegal invasion of Ukraine from getting access to their ill-gotten gains here in Australia. And we should be doing all we can to go after these individuals.

The action the parliament is taking, and the action the coalition supports, is to reinforce this parliament's unambiguous view that Australia's sanctions regime is robust and that the decisions of all previous Australian government ministers to sanction an individual or entity were intentional and remain valid, regardless of any attempt by others to seek to challenge them. We want to make sure that we have a strong and enforceable regime. The coalition's strong track record points to this. We did it in government and we're happy to lend our support to ensure that it occurs while we're in opposition.

Australia has a strong history of promoting and protecting human rights globally, supporting the international rules-based order and acting in the interests of international peace and security. Former coalition governments imposed sanctions on Mr Putin, Russian individuals and entities, and supporters of the Russian regime. These included using sanctions in response to the downing of MH17 and the murder of 298 passengers and crew, including 28 who called Australia home, and for his role in Russia's annexation of Crimea. We also imposed over 800 sanctions on Russian interests and supporters, including in Belarus, within weeks of Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The coalition has continued and will continue to provide bipartisan support for the Albanese Labor government to increase support for Ukraine, including by additional sanctions Australia has imposed on Russian individuals, entities and supporters. In December 2021, under the coalition, Australia expanded its autonomous sanctions laws to enable the establishment of Magnitsky-style and other thematic sanctions. We would also say to the government: for anything additional that you want to do to help and support Ukraine, you will have bipartisanship all the way. I was in Federation Square on Saturday afternoon for the second anniversary of that illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia. There is no question that we need to be doing all we can to support Ukraine. What Russia is doing to that country and to its people is deplorable. It's beyond words. It's despicable and disgraceful, and it deserves utter condemnation.

While the coalition has welcomed the limited sanctions the government has imposed on countries since May 2022, in far too many cases Australia continues to lag behind our international partners and allies in using our sanctions regime to hold to account those responsible for human rights abuses. The government has a penchant for being a follower, not a leader, when it comes to imposing sanctions. Australia needs to act swiftly to send a clear and unequivocal message that the international community will not tolerate impunity for gross violations of human rights and the rule of law.

We welcome the latest announcement from the government, on 24 February 2024, imposing further targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 55 persons and targeted financial sanctions on 37 entities, including sanctions targeting those involved in Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children from regions under temporary Russian control—a despicable act. However, sanctions targeting those involved in Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children could have been done months ago. The EU imposed similar sanctions in June 2023, the UK in July 2023, the US in August 2023 and Canada in September 2023. We say to the government, with the greatest of respect: please, let's act quickly, especially against this insidious Russian regime.

Missing in the announcement of 24 February 2024 were sanctions imposed on those responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny—sanctions that the coalition called for on 21 February 2024. These sanctions came two days later, when the government announcement targeted sanctions on seven prison officials that were involved in the mistreatment and death in custody. I take the opportunity to note that Mr Navalny's death represents not only a profound loss for those who champion democracy and human rights around the world but also serves as a stark reminder of the criticality of taking all reasonable actions against the ongoing suppression of dissent and political opposition in Russia.

I'd also note that, in December last year, the coalition called on the government to impose more targeted sanctions against high-ranking Hamas officials. That will have a real impact in supporting Israel's campaign to disable Hamas and prevent it from committing such atrocities again. Almost a month later, on 23 January 2024, the government acted, announcing further counterterrorism financing sanctions on 12 persons and three entities linked to Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestine Islamic Jihad. The coalition welcome this, but it's important to look at the detail. This was announced at the same time as the US announced its fifth round of sanctions on Hamas since the 7 October terrorist attack. The latest US sanctions targeted networks of Hamas-affiliated financial exchanges in Gaza, their owners and associates and particularly financial facilitators that have played key roles in funds transfers, including cryptocurrency transfers, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force to Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

However, none of the entities or individuals sanctioned by the US in their announcement of 22 January 2024 were included in the sanctions announced by this government. If we are to get peace, we need to dismantle Hamas. All 12 entities and three individuals that Australia sanctioned last month have previously been sanctioned by some of our allies. For example, Mahmoud al-Zahar is a senior member and co-founder of Hamas who has worked closely with specially designated global terrorists and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and has spoken publicly on behalf of Hamas, including in formal interviews, to threaten violence against Jewish civilians and emphasise Hamas's commitment to the destruction of Israel. He was sanctioned by the US on 14 November 2023 and the UK on 13 December 2023. Ali Morshed Shirazi, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force—officials who train and assist PIJ Hamas and Hezbollah—were sanctioned by the US on 27 October 2023 and the UK on 13 December 2023. Rather than playing catch-up, Australia should be working in lock step with allies to dismantle Hamas's financial infrastructure, including from external sources, and to block new funding channels they seek to finance their heinous acts.

While the coalition has welcomed the limited sanctions the government has imposed on countries since May 2022, in far too many cases, Australia continues to lag behind our international partners and allies in using our sanctions regime to hold to account those responsible for human rights abuses. Prior to the last election, in an address to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Senator Wong called on the Morrison government to:

… consider targeted sanctions on foreign companies, officials and other entities known to be directly profiting from Uyghur forced labour and other human rights abuses …

At the halfway mark of their first term, no such action has been taken by the Albanese government. On the August anniversary of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report into the forced detention and treatment of Uyghurs, Human Rights Watch Australia highlighted the action of the EU, US, UK and Canada to apply sanctions. They said:

… the Australian government should join other democracies in holding serious human rights abusers in China to account. By not doing this, what message is Australia sending?

We can all draw conclusions about why Australia may not have acted, even though the coalition has offered bipartisan support for actions as a result of the OHCHR's findings. By not acting, Australia weakens international efforts and the effectiveness of the efforts of others. As the Human Rights First coalition put it in their global review of Magnitsky at five years:

As powerful as it can be for one jurisdiction to impose Magnitsky sanctions against a human rights abuser or corrupt actor, the impact and legitimacy of those sanctions are multiplied as more jurisdictions join together to sanction the same persons.

Acting with key allies in a joint and timely manner is the best way for us to go.

In closing, the coalition supports this bill and reiterates its offer of bipartisanship for the government to impose targeted sanctions in line with those of our allies, whether in response to Russian abuses, human rights abuses in Xinjiang or numerous other instances of human rights violations.

Debate adjourned.