 Rees, I don't know if you came in here tonight, would I? I think they might have been in front of the bar, too. Yeah, you see what I'm saying? I don't know, it's not easy, right? I didn't see it there, it was built by construction. You didn't invite them in front of the bar, or something like that, did you? Which one? It's the tar straight up, you know. What is the straight one? It's the short type, as well. OK. I think they might have been in front of the bar. You won't hear it much, though, do you know that? Of course. It's the short type, you know, it's the short type. Yeah. And it's what you want to hear from Rees. And they really... Are they coming? Hello. Hello. Thanks very much for coming. This evening, I'm announcing a range of measures which demonstrate the government's commitment to holding perpetrators and enablers of human rights violations to account. In our region, it's the morning of the 1st of February, two years ago, since the Myanmar military staged a coup d'etat and seized power against the will of the people, plunging the country into a deep political, economic and humanitarian crisis. And the two years since, the people of Myanmar have demonstrated their courage, their commitment to a democratic country, demanded respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and have shown determined resilience in the face of unspeakable atrocities. The military regime has responded violently to any form of opposition, including peaceful protests. We know from credible reports that thousands of civilians, including children, have been jailed, tortured or killed. There is evidence of airstrikes, bombardments and the mass burning of villages and places of warships having been indiscriminately targeted, including civilians and civilian infrastructure. I've spoken about these matters previously and I said in the face of so many of the things which occur in this world, which we would wish did not occur, that the government will bring all aspects of Australian power to our foreign policy, employ every strategy at our disposal towards upholding rights consistent with our values and our interests. And I've said before, sanctions will rarely be our first choice. We have looked to support the work of ASEAN and work with others to put pressure on the regime, including through the United Nations. But it is ultimately about making the best judgement we can about the right approach at the right time. My judgement is that the time has come for sanctions. So after careful deliberation and consultation, Australia is imposing additional autonomous sanctions on those directly responsible for the military coup and ongoing repression of violence. This includes targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 16 individuals who are key figures in the military regime and targeted financial sanctions on two military controlled entities. Australia will continue to monitor the regime's actions. We will be looking to see improvements for people on the ground and moves towards the restoration of democracy, including credible elections. In this context, we will keep our targeted sanctions towards Myanmar under review. I can also announce that we are imposing further targeted financial sanctions and travel bans in response to the egregious and ongoing human rights violations in Iran. 16 senior Iranian law enforcement and military officials, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, will be subjected to financial sanctions and travel bans. And we are also sanctioning an entity over its involvement in human rights abuses in Iran. In addition, we are imposing sanctions on four persons and four entities involved in the transfer of drones from Iran to Russia for use in Ukraine. Iran's material support of Russia in its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine is unacceptable and continues to further destabilise global security. Australia stands for the people of Myanmar, the people of Iran and the people of Ukraine. Happy to take questions. Minister, the EU and the UK are both currently considering prescribing the Revolutionary Guard of Iran as a terrorist organisation. Why have you decided not to do this? Well, I've made the point previously when asked this question that we already have sanctions under both UN and Autonomous Sanctions regime on the IRGC, and those have been in place since 2012, as well as a number of IRGC-linked persons and entities. And today I have announced further sanctions on a number of individuals working for the IRGC and IRGC-linked entities. As I've said previously, I've seen the calls for the IRGC to be listed. As the Attorney-General said, we don't comment on what listings might or might not be considered under the criminal code. Minister, do you agree with Prime Minister Albanese about his comments about joining Assad that it's time that he's released? And is that a topic of discussion, why are we here? In relation to the first, that is the government's position. We've said that for some time, that we believe this matter has dragged on too long, and we'll continue to raise it at the appropriate levels with both the US and the UK governments. Your former colleague in the Senate Rex Patrick recently put an FA1A request into your office, asking for correspondence between yourself and the US Secretary of State. Related to Mr Assad, if I could just finish the question. Well, I understand what the question is going to be, so you can keep it. I'm nearly there. OK, that's good to know. Does that mean that you have not corresponded with the US about the case of... No, I don't... Well, we continue to raise it, as you would know, if you, given your level of experience, not all things are done by letter in diplomacy, nor are they in detail to journalists. Does that mean you've done the work? No, so I've answered your question, which is we have raised it at appropriate levels and will continue to do so, and the government's position is that this matter has dragged on too long. And when will Mr Assad be released? Well, we don't... That's not a decision for the Australian government. So are you confident in making progress? That's not a decision for the Australian government. So our entreaties are being ignored? Well, no, I'm not... Well, we believe the matter's dragged on too long, and we continue to raise it. You would be familiar with many legal processes in which Mr Assad is involved, and you would also know that both countries, all three countries that we're discussing, the rule of law prevails. In tonight's speech... Sorry, Rob, did you have a question? Yes, I wanted to talk about tonight's speech. Welcome to my little set of stuff. I guess there seems to be a bit of a shift that we've always had, you know, in nearly 10 years of a coalition government. We're very friendly with Britain and who sort of portrayed Britain through, you know, the mother country and things like that. And clearly your language tonight was very different. Do you see sort of a shifting of the relationship or, I guess, an evolution of the relationship under your government? Look, I think, you know, our relationship within our kingdom is historic. It is a part of who we are. But more importantly, it's a part of our future. And the UK, the US and other like-minded nations and nations with whom we work, given not only our friendship, our partnership and our alliances, but because of the interests and values we share. And that fact matters a great deal today as the world is being reshaped. And it matters regardless of who's in government. But is that how our region is going to see it? Are they going to see two like-minded countries with shared values working together in the region, or are they going to see two white colonial powers kind of tell South East Asia what to do? We're not a white colonial power. Well, and one of, you know, I gave a speech at the Whitlam Institute, actually, Whitlam Institute, yes, which spoke about Whitlam and that process of being part of PNG's independence. And one of the very moving things about researching that was Goff saying that if he did not, I'm paraphrasing if he did nothing else in his political life other than be part of ensuring the independence of PNG, you would be satisfied. You know, one of the things I think is really important is that we engage with the countries of our region, as I said tonight, respectfully, in recognising where they are. We also engage with who we are. You know, you used a very old stereotype then. And let me finish. It's no longer who we are. One in two Australians were born overseas or have a parent born overseas. If you walk through our cities and our towns, you will see a very different Australia, and that's a wonderful thing. It also enables us to find common ground. You wanted to ask a question? No, I'm saying that just having an alliance with the UK and the US actually add value to the pictures you just painted in the region, is it really helpful to have Britain working so closely with us? Look, I think it's... I outlined tonight our view on AUKUS, our continued support for it, and the what and the why. And we have to remember that these arrangements, the partnership through the AUKUS partnership, our alliance with the United States, our engagement in the Quad, are all complementary to our deep engagement in the architecture of the region. As I said, the East Asia Summit, our work as an ASEAN dialogue partner, we are deeply engaged in the region in many ways. You spoke about colonialism. I was wondering what message you were sending to the British about... There's not a message in the way perhaps you might imply. I was making a point about histories and talking about who we are. And that if we are able to speak about that multifaceted history, that it does give us a greater capacity to engage with the countries of our region. You know, there is... It's a reality of who we are, and it's a reality of our past and our present. Did you talk to Pacific nations about this and your being around these nations? What are they saying to you about the image of the British and what they would like to see? Well, I tend to talk to them more about Australia, for obvious reasons. But there's been a lot of interest in our First Nations foreign policy and talking about the contribution of First Nations. I think, I hope, that it's been of interest that we talk about our multicultural character. I think these things are enormously powerful. I think the narrative and the story of who Australia really is is an enormously powerful part of our foreign policy and I intend to deploy it. But are you saying the British should do the same thing? Well, that's a matter for the British. I was speaking as an Australian Foreign Minister about my experience and about the way in which we engage with the world, and I'll leave it to my good friends to talk about this, but I think you can see the way in which Britain is engaging in the Indo-Pacific in a very substantive way and in a historically different way from some of the past. Mr, last week the High Commission here held an Australia Day party that was sponsored by the Tory Donut. So my question is, is that an appropriate... This I did not know. Did you write about it? I'm sorry, I've missed it. It may appear, by the way, that he's a major donor to the Brexit campaign, some anti-climate change groups and also the Conservative Party. Is that an appropriate funder for Australian diplomacy? Well, look, I am not across the detail of those arrangements. Obviously, these are decisions... Does it concern you? Well, I'm not across the detail of it and, you know, these are decisions made not at ministerial level, but we do engage, as you know, with the private sector to promote Australia, to promote who we are and to encourage trade investment tourism. So I assume that's the basis on which the decisions were made. OK, thanks very much. It's a very small room.