STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr NG (Menzies) (13:43): The conflict in Iran has not gone away simply because the media headlines have moved on, and the repression of the Iranian people has not gone away. Last month, the United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran reported on the brutal crackdown by the Islamic republic's regime against democratic protesters at the start of this year. The mission found that the regime forces used lethal force against protesters and bystanders, including children.

The death toll reported by the regime was considered to be a significant underestimate, and some independent organisations report that the toll was around 40,000 people killed. The mission also documented mass arrests, torture and enforced disappearances, concluding that many of these abuses amounted to crimes against humanity. The repression continues today.

Between March and the end of August, Iranian authorities arbitrarily executed at least 59 men, following grossly unfair trials for politically motivated or vague national security charges. More than 70 others, including women and children, remain at imminent risk of a death sentence. At the same time, the broader conflict continues.

Australians want to see de-escalation and diplomacy succeed, but an end to fighting cannot mean returning to a status quo where people are killed for demanding basic rights. This is not an abstract foreign policy for the Iranian Australians that I represent. It is family, it is friends, it is the country they love and it is the future they still hope for and a future that I'll continue to speak out for.