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The Australian Government is imposing targeted sanctions on an additional five Iranian individuals and three entities, in response to Iran’s destabilising behaviour.

Senior officials sanctioned today include Iran’s Defence Minister, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, and the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Qods Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani. The IRGC is a malignant actor that has long been a threat to international security, and to its own people. 

Those sanctioned also include Iranian senior officials, businesspeople and companies that have contributed to the development of Iran’s missile and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programs. Iran’s proliferation and provision of these technologies to its proxies has fostered instability across the region for many years.

Targeted entities include the IRGC Navy, which seized an Israeli-linked (Portuguese-flagged) civilian vessel in international waters on 13 April 2024. Australia continues to call for the immediate release of the ship and its crew.

Today’s listings mean the Albanese Government has now sanctioned 90 Iranian-linked individuals and 100 Iranian-linked entities and are a further demonstration of this Government’s commitment to taking strong action against Iran. 

This action is in line with sanctions measures taken by our partners in recent weeks, following Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in April.

Australia will continue to deliberately and strategically apply pressure on Iran to cease its disruptive activities and adhere to international law.

Labor and the Coalition are seeking to pass legislation that can make anywhere in Australia a nuclear waste dumping ground with no public consultation, no First Nations input and no warning.

The Senate report released today into the Australian Nuclear Power Safety Bill 2023 highlights the lack of protections for communities as Labor seeks to create a new defence nuclear regulator as part of their deal on AUKUS nuclear submarines.

Today’s majority Senate report supports giving the Defence Minister the power to designate anywhere in Australia a high-level nuclear-dumping ground with no public consultation needed.

The report highlights, but does not recommend addressing, the conflict of interest at the core of this new nuclear submarine regulator, due to it answering to the Minister of Defence who is also the Minister responsible for the operation of nuclear submarines.

The Senate committee report acknowledged that this Bill was drafted by the Albanese Government to allow the dumping of UK and US high-level nuclear waste in Australia. Since this Bill was introduced the Greens have been calling for this to be removed and, while it is positive to see this recommended as a change, the Albanese Government is yet to accept this amendment.

Senator David Shoebrdige, Greens spokesperson for Defence said: “This just shows the lengths the Albanese Government will go to try and keep the failing AUKUS nuclear submarine deal sputtering along.”

“Labor is more than happy to team up with the Coalition and start opening up nuclear waste dumps around Australia without any public consultation.

“If this Bill becomes law you could wake up tomorrow and have a nuclear waste dump as a neighbour, simply because the Defence Minister singled your suburb out.

“This runs roughshod not just over local communities, but also First Nations peoples who have a long history of protecting their land from nuclear waste from Muckaty to Kimba.

“Until the Greens pointed it out last year the Government was trying to quietly push this bill through Parliament and allow the US and UK to dump high-level nuclear waste here. With this nuclear-powered cat out of the bag, the question is will Labor amend the Bill to protect Australia from this toxic future?

“The Greens issued a dissenting report opposing the Bill that highlighted the dangers of international nuclear waste dumping in Australia and the multiple failures in the structure that undermine the proposed new regulator’s independence.

“Under this Bill, the supposed ‘independent regulator’ of Defence can be run by someone who the day before was in the Defence, staffed by the Defence, and reporting to the Minister of Defence. It is absurd,” Senator Shoebridge said.

Read the Greens Dissenting report here.

Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May was sworn into Parliament today taking on the portfolios of Science, Industry and Innovation, and Early Childhood Education and Care.

Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May:

“All my life experiences have led me here.

“Facing fire and drought growing up on our family farm in regional Victoria. Seeing the impacts of unjust policies on people like my partner, a refugee who fled a warzone. Feeling the pressures of daily life as a working mum of young children.

“I am honoured to continue the incredibly important work of our party and movement.

“As a working parent, I know the challenges of juggling a career with kids. I’m deeply grateful for the important work of early childhood educators.

“One of my biggest priorities as the newest Greens Senator is to fight for free early childhood education and care for everyone across Australia.

“In this cost of living crisis, early childhood education and care is too expensive and too hard to access. As a result, women are missing out on paid work and they’re being left behind because they can’t afford care for their children.

“Childcare is an essential public service just like school, and for children, the early years are the most important in their development. It removes barriers that limit choices for women, boosts women’s capacity to engage in paid work and relieves financial pressures in a cost of living crisis.

“I also recognise that my ability to do this work is only possible because of the wonderful work of educators, and every day I’ll be fighting to ensure that their critical role in our education system is recognised and that they get the pay that they deserve.

“There has never been a more important time for the Greens to continue to work with our communities to prioritise people over corporations.”

Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

“I’m thrilled to welcome my friend Steph Hodgins-May as the newest member of our Greens Senate team.

“The climate and cost of living crises are biting hard and Labor is making the problems worse. Steph will hit the ground running this budget week, including pushing Labor to really prioritise women’s economic freedom by making child care free.”

The Cost of Living Committee found that the cost of living continues to be the number one issue facing Australians, and decisions made by the Albanese Labor Government are making the problem worse, not better.

The second Interim Report for the Cost of Living Committee has made 14 recommendations to the Labor Government on how to tackle the cost of living crisis facing Australians.

First and foremost, Labor must reduce its spending to take the pressure off aggregate demand so that the Reserve Bank is not left to do all the heavy lifting. Unless Labor reduces its appetite to spend, inflation will stay higher for longer, and interest rates will stay higher for longer.

On energy, Labor must make increasing supply a top priority to help bring down prices in the medium and long term. In the short term, Labor should remove the gas price caps and reduce red and green tape to facilitate more investment in Australia’s natural gas sector.

The Committee also recommends Labor lift Australia’s ban on nuclear energy, to allow consideration of it as a cost efficient and low-emissions energy source, to supplement renewables over the long term.

On housing, Labor should be working with state and local governments to remove barriers to delivering greater housing supply and remove housing taxes such as land taxes, windfall gains taxes, and other developer charges to reduce the cost of new houses.

Australians who want to purchase their own home should be able to access their own superannuation to do so. The Committee recommends that Labor support and legislate the Coalition’s First Home Super Buyer scheme.

To help business, the Committee recommends Labor conduct a stocktake of Commonwealth regulation relating to small-to-medium enterprises and remove both the increases to the heavy vehicle user charge and biosecurity levy in the 2023-24 Budget. The Report also recommends Labor’s disastrous industrial relations laws be repealed.

Chair of the Cost of Living Committee, Senator Jane Hume, urged the Albanese Government to adopt the recommendations of the Committee in full, to assist Australians who are suffering under Labor’s cost of living crisis.

“For two years, Labor has failed to tackle the cost of living and the Senate Committee has found that Australians are paying the price.

“Under this Government, Australians’ standard of living has gone backwards. Whether it is in supermarkets, keeping their lights on, or paying for a roof over their head, Australians are poorer under Labor.

“This upcoming Budget is an opportunity for Labor to finally show the Australian public that they are tackling Australia’s homegrown and sticky inflation at the source rather than just looking at the symptoms. Failure to act now to put downward pressure on inflation will see the cost of living only get worse for all Australians.

Senator Dean Smith said the report confirmed how badly millions of Australians are struggling under Labor.

“Households are being crippled by housing stress, food stress and other inflation-related hardship – many for the first time,” he said.

“The Albanese Government, whose economic, energy and housing policy misfires have fueled this crisis, must finally take responsibility and act on the report’s recommendations.”

Senator Matt Canavan said, “Australians are struggling under this Labor Government, they’re seeing their bills going up and having to scrape the bottom of their wallets to find enough money to put food on the table but their struggles are constantly being ignored.”

“Labor’s ideological crusade for renewables is having flow on effects to Australians and they need to go back to focusing on making sure Australians aren’t fighting to get by,” he concluded.

The Committee is continuing to accept submissions from all sectors of the economy and encourages ordinary Australians to complete the short survey available at yourcostofliving.au.

The Second Interim Report is available here.

The Coalition welcomes the High Court’s decision in the ASF17 case however it cannot hide the Albanese Government’s appalling handling of the detainees’ issue which remains a rolling debacle the like of which we’ve never seen.

The High Court’s decision is what most were expecting. The High Court has taken the uncontroversial position that detainees can’t engineer their own release into the Australian community by being uncooperative. That is common sense.

The decision also shows there was no need for the Albanese Government to rush through in just one day new legislation as it wanted to do in the previous sitting week of Parliament.

The sensible position arrived at by the Coalition to send the legislation to a committee inquiry was always the right thing to do.

But it’s not a good day for the Albanese Government when the best thing you can say is: “thank goodness the Government’s handling of this issue hasn’t gotten worse.’’

The only thing the Government has excelled at in this space is to release hard core criminals onto the streets quickly and to not oppose bail when they allegedly commit further crimes.

When it comes to actually protecting the community, Australians have seen complete and utter failure.

Shocking pictures of Perth grandmother Ninette Simons, allegedly violently assaulted by one of the released detainees, show what the Albanese Government’s failure looks like.

So far all we’ve seen from this Government is blame shifting, evasiveness, factual inaccuracy and a complete refusal to take responsibility.

In regard to the new legislation now listed to come before the Senate next week the Coalition’s position is made clear in the Coalition’s dissenting report.

There are serious problems with what the Government tried to do.

There have been 118 submissions published by the inquiry. 117 oppose the Bill. The only one which supported it is from the Department of Home Affairs.

The Government’s legislation, as introduced, was not in a form suitable to become the law of Australia. We support a strong border protection and immigration detention system. But what is clear is that the Government’s first attempt was not fit for purpose.

This legislation clearly needs to be improved before it can be passed by the Parliament.

The judgment today clearly demonstrates that the Government’s arrogant rush to push legislation through the Parliament in one day was misguided, unnecessary and would have resulted in a poor outcome for Australia.

The Albanese Labor Government has proven overnight that they lack the courage to stand against pressure and by sound principles after voting at the United Nations General Assembly for a resolution granting a unique form of UN membership to the ‘State of Palestine’.

Labor’s support for the resolution sends a shameful message that violence and terrorism get results ahead of negotiation and diplomacy.

This resolution, supported by Australia due to the change in position taken by the Albanese Government, creates the wrong incentives and risks further harming prospects for long term peace.

There is a real risk that Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and others who deny Israel the right to exist take heart from this resolution.

The pathway to a two-state solution matters and can only be possible with security and respect by each party of the right for the other to exist. Yet this resolution reads as though the Hamas attacks of 7 October, deliberately slaughtering more Jews than on any single day since The Holocaust, never happened.

The resolution the Albanese Government supported doesn’t mention Hamas, let alone call for their surrender. It also doesn’t call for the release of hostages held by Hamas and doesn’t make respect for Israel’s right to exist a precondition of action.

Alongside the horrific problem of Hamas terrorists still active in Gaza, this resolution leaves unresolved the question of borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, rights of return for Palestinians, governance reform of the Palestinian Authority and future security undertakings between the two states.

By advancing the wishes of terrorists while securing nothing in return this vote has reduced the incentive for parties to negotiate and increased the risks of future attacks or bloodshed.

Labor’s actions have undermined decades of bipartisan foreign policy support of a two-state solution that is negotiated between the parties and would provide both Israelis and Palestinians peace and security within internationally recognised borders.

The Albanese Government’s casting of a vote in support of this resolution was also out of step with key partners, including the majority of our Five Eyes partners. The United States opposed it, while Canada and the United Kingdom abstained, along with other democratic nations we should stand with, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

It is evident now that the Prime Minister has misled Australians for weeks by saying he hasn’t changed Australia’s position. Clearly the speech Minister Wong made last month was Labor limbering up to change Australia’s foreign policy position and to further widen the gulf between Australia and important allies.

Prime Minister Albanese must guarantee not to proceed with further recognition while Hamas still commands the capacity to attack, Israel’s security remains threatened by those who promote violence, and the Palestinian Authority is crippled by incompetence.

The Coalition wants the tragic loss of innocent lives to end, but this approach will not achieve that. We remain committed to a genuine negotiated two-state solution.

We all wish to see the bloodshed stop, decades of violence cease being perpetuated and the legitimate rights of all peoples upheld, both Palestinian and Israeli. But peace and security will not be achieved by potentially emboldening terrorists.

Media reports today that four unauthorised maritime arrivals were found in Broome on Friday represents yet another shocking failure of border protection under the Albanese Labor Government.

It follows recent reports of 33 illegal boat arrivals at Christmas Island and five on Saibai Island in Far North Queensland in the last week alone.

This is now the sixth boat that has breached our borders and reached Australian territory in the last six months, and the 17th attempted people smuggling venture to make the journey to Australia under the Albanese government.

This latest attempt comes after the Albanese Labor Government has repeatedly undermined Operation Sovereign Borders by abolishing temporary protection visas, planned cuts to border security funding of $436 million over the forward estimates, a reduction of funding for strategic communications and a decrease in aerial flying hours of 20.7% and a 12.2% decrease in maritime patrol days.

This is just the latest in a cascading set of failures under the current government that have left Australians less safe, less secure, and less certain.

Labor must immediately correct its failed border policies and restore the Operation Sovereign Borders framework in full to the settings maintained by the former Coalition Government.