PRIME MINISTER: The invasion of Ukraine has effectively already begun, as President Biden has also remarked. This invasion is unjustified, it’s unwarranted, it’s unprovoked and it’s unacceptable. Russia is at peak readiness to now complete a full scale invasion of Ukraine, and that is likely to occur within the next 24 hours. And there are even reports already of shelling and things of that nature, which could indicate that it has already begun.
My first thoughts are for all of the people of Ukraine, and for those many 38,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent who are here. I spoke to Stefan Romaniw, who heads up the Ukrainian community here in Australia earlier today, and they’re, of course, very concerned for their families, for their friends and for their homeland, from where they have come from. And I’ll have a bit more to say about how we’ll be seeking to provide support to them.
Australians always stand up to bullies and we will be standing up to Russia, along with all of our partners, like-mindeds and all of those who believe that it is absolutely unacceptable that Russia could invade its neighbour and seek to extract some concessions or advantage out of threats of terrible violence upon its neighbour. We will be doing this in concert, as I said with our many allies and partners, but the Australian Government will immediately begin placing sanctions on Russian individuals in response to the aggression by Russia against Ukraine. We will also amend the Autonomous Sanctions Regulation of 2011 to extend existing sanctions that apply to Crimea and Sevastopol to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. These two actions will align us with our key partners, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Our intention today and the decisions taken by the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Security Committee are to ensure that we are in lockstep with the United States and the United Kingdom in the sanctions that they are imposing upon Russia and these other areas. Initially, we will oppose impose travel bans and targeted financial sanctions on eight members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Tomorrow morning, I will meet with the Governor-General here in Sydney, and I’ve spoken to him earlier today, as a Special Executive Council meeting to enable my Government to impose those additional sanctions against Russia.
These sanctions will significantly expand the scope of persons and, I stress, entities, that Australia can list for targeted financial sanctions and travel bans. It’s including to capture persons and entities of what is termed strategic and economic significance to Russia. And so that gives us a broad coverage to ensure that we can target those who are particularly involved in these actions and who are aiding and abetting this invasion. The sanctions will impose strong economic sanctions in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, targeting the following sectors: transport, energy, telecommunications, oil, gas, and mineral reserves.
We will be also moving, as the United States and the UK has, to sanction the Russian State Development Bank, VEB, the military bank Promsvyazbank, Rossiya, IS Bank, the General Bank and the Black Sea Bank. The Treasurer has spoken today to all of the CEOs of the major banks and to put them on alert to be aware of any suspicious transactions or things of that nature. And, of course, AUSTRAC will be doing their job in response to what could possibly occur. In response to Russia’s recognition of Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine as independent states, that is why these actions are being undertaken to extend into those areas.
In the first tranche, I’ve asked the Foreign Foreign Minister to consider sanctions against persons and entities that have been identified by our like-minded partners, and I expect subsequent tranches of sanctions. This is only the start of this process. We are working with our partners to identify additional individuals who will be subject to these sanctions, that have been made possible by our Autonomous Sanctions Legislation that we recently took through the Parliament.
The Security Council of Russia provided policy advice and justification to President Putin, which led to his presidential decree of 21 February, recognising the so-called Donetsk Republic People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. Moscow’s decision fundamentally undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it has no validity under international law. Our Government continues to coordinate closely with the United States, UK and European Union and other governments to ensure there are severe costs to Russia’s aggression, and we won’t hesitate to take further actions under those regulations that I have set out.
Now, in addition to that, Australia has been stepping up our preparedness in order to take these actions. There is a consultation process that goes around these sanctions under the legislation, so we can fully understand supply chain impacts, and that is very important, as was the discussions with the banks by the Treasurer earlier today. But we have been stepping up our response, particularly in relation to counter espionage, which we were briefed on today. AUSTRAC, I have already mentioned, to who will work together closely with APRA to ensure that we’re keeping a close watch on a suspicious financial transactions.
In addition to that, we have already been taking action on cyber defences and that has been done privately already with many companies, alerting them to the risk of potential counter responses by Russia and other actors in response to these decisions. There is no evidence that any such attacks have taken place to date, I’m advised. But we are now publicly saying right across the country to go to the ASD website so you can be clearly informed of the steps that you should be taking to ensure that you are protected as best as you can be from any cyber-attacks.
In terms of consular support, we will continue to provide that. There are, we believe, up to around 1,400 Australians who are in Ukraine. There is 184 who have registered and we’re dealing with directly, and we have been warning them for some time now to make their way out of Ukraine. And we are doing that out of a base in Poland and continuing to provide support to people inside Ukraine.
We have, I’ve also instructed today the Minister for Immigration to accelerate the conclusion of Ukrainian visa applications to Australia. They will go to the top of the pile and I’ve asked for those to be concluded urgently. There are some 430, roughly, applications from Ukrainian citizens to come to Australia. They’re across a range of different visa classes – student visas, family visas and others. And so I’ve asked for those to be concluded, so there’s the opportunity for people who’ve been in that process to come to Australia. There are some 1,027 Ukrainians outside of Australia who have visas to enter Australia, and, of course, they would be welcomed.
We will work very closely, especially with Poland, but other European partners to deal with the likelihood of displaced persons coming into their countries. This is where we think we can provide some quite effective assistance. I’ll be speaking next week to the Polish Prime Minister. I’ll be speaking tonight to the Ukrainian Prime Minister and discussing these matters. We will be in a position there, as we have on many other occasions for displaced persons, in providing direct assistance in terms of where they will be, humanitarian support for where they will be. It is not always the case, and, in fact, it is less often the case that people who are in these situations will seek safe harbour for a period of time before returning to their country of origin. At this stage, it is too uncertain to predict how long that could be or what circumstances will be, but we’ll be working and providing support to the Polish Government and others who are providing direct assistance to displaced persons, where they are being accommodated in those countries.
We will also be looking at the options for humanitarian support in terms of visa access to Australia, and I’d stress with Ukrainian citizens, this wouldn’t just be through our humanitarian program. It would be through the many streams of our migration program – skilled migration, student visas, other visas, family reunion visas, things of that nature. So I would expect that we’d be able to provide that support through those many channels, but we’re still in the very early stages of that.
Right now, our greatest concern is the invasion itself and our concerns for the safety and welfare of people who are in the firing line there in Ukraine, and they’re in the firing line of Russian guns and Russian tanks and Russian planes and Russian missiles. That’s what’s being aimed at the people of Ukraine. It is unacceptable and it won’t be stood for by the international community. And all nations who want to stand up to bullies should do so now, as so many have done. And, Australia, as always, is pleased to be doing that. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Do any of these sanctions apply to individuals within Australia where they’re financial backers of President Putin, and do you believe the greatest pressure you can put on the Russian leader is to squeeze those that have [inaudible] reach under him?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, in short, in the latter question. On the other matter, we will be dealing with those issues sensitively, as you, as you’d expect. I’m not about to give too much away on that front. We’ll be working through that process patiently and make further announcements about individuals as appropriate. But, at this stage, I’m not about to suggest that we’d be making those details public. But if we believe that’s in Australia’s national interest to do so, then we would.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, apart from the potential for cyber-attacks, is there any other forms of retaliation that Australia could face?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think cyber’s, I think, one of the most obvious, and I’d stress that that the cyber-attacks can sometimes come from miscalculation and misadventure. We’ve seen that in the past where cyber-attacks have sought to let loose various worms, they call them, or viruses, and and they get out of the control of those who who put them in the system. And so it can be indiscriminate collateral impacts, as well as targeted impacts. And so that is, that is the primary issue. But I’ve already mentioned that we’ll, ASIO will be keeping a very close watch on any sort of espionage type activities that could be occurring. And but but outside of that, in terms of economic retaliation, I mean, Australia doesn’t have a a large volume of trade between ourselves and Russia. And little compared to particularly the countries of Europe and the United States. But, that said, it’s important that we play our part of in the broader international community to ensure that those who are financing, profiting from an autocratic and authoritarian regime that is invading its neighbour should have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide when it comes to trying to move their money around and avoid the consequences of supporting this type of behaviour.
Sure.
JOURNALIST: Other powers like China, what message will they take away from the way the West is responding?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I hope they join us. That’s the message that that I’m sending and have been sending for some time. And I have noted that China’s language in in the course of the past week has improved. But I’d I’d welcome them going the full distance and joining ourselves and the United States and the UK and the EU and Canada and so many other countries that are denouncing what is occurring there. And we can’t have some suggestion that Russia has some just case here that they’re prosecuting. They’re behaving like thugs and bullies, and they should be called out as thugs and bullies. And quite sadly and tragically, the sheer force of that violence of a thug and a bully is about to be impacted upon the people of Ukraine. Now, it’s at the last stage before a full invasion, and and let’s hope and pray that that does not happen. But all the signs are that once they have built to a peak of military preparedness to invade, then it is only a matter of time before they have to walk away or follow through. And, sadly, all the signs are that they would follow through.
I’m going to, I’ll go around.
JOURNALIST: What do you expect the economic consequences to be? One former diplomat to Russia said the sanctions from 2014 have only impacted their economy about 0.2 per cent of GDP each year. And will these sanctions, or sanctions you’re considering, target Putin’s resources personally?
PRIME MINISTER: We will, we’re going to take it step by step, and I can assure you we those steps will get stronger and stronger and stronger. What is made possible by our Autonomous Sanctions Act is that we can target the individuals themselves and the entities as well. So the impact is is not just at a broad macroeconomic level on on Russia. And let me be also be very clear about something. We have no quarrel with the people of Russia. None whatsoever. And I feel for the Russian people and there are many Australians of Russian extraction here who I know will be very disappointed by what President Putin is doing, and and they will feel strongly about that because that’s not what they believe their country is about. That’s not what their values are about. They, that’s not what their heritage is about. And I know they’ll be very disappointed about this. This is the actions of a Russian Government, an autocratic, authoritarian government that’s forgotten what democracy is and what liberal democracy is in undertaking these actions of bullying and threats and intimidation. That’s not what I believe the Russian people stand for, and certainly those Australians who are of Russian extraction here.
So what this enables us to do, I think, is be far more targeted on the perpetrators and the beneficiaries of this violence. That’s what the Autonomous Sanctions Act is all about. And so I believe it enables us to be more effective, and doing that in concert with the United States and Canada and and the United Kingdom and and many other countries, European Union. We will be adding names to the list, I can tell you. And we’ll be, we’ll be ratcheting it up further to potentially other areas of economic activity.
Yeah, sorry.
JOURNALIST: Would that be Putin?
PRIME MINISTER: I said we will continue to ratchet this up over time. So I’m not getting drawn on any individual decisions at this time. I think you’d understand that we would be proceeding in a sensitive way in terms of protecting the security of our actions.
JOURNALIST: Are you ordering the Russian Ambassador to leave and is there any reason why representatives of the Putin regime should stay in Australia at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: We haven’t taken that step. The the Russian Ambassador, I understand, will be coming in to see the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Defence and Trade today, Foreign Affairs and Trade. Equally, I should have noted the Opposition is being briefed by the key officials from who support the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Security Committee to their senior ministers this afternoon. But that step hasn’t been taken as yet. Other countries, and I’ve discussed this with other leaders, they haven’t taken those decisions as yet. But we will see where this proceeds.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve said that we’re taking this step by step. What what’s the worst case scenario? Where where is this, where is this heading for Australia’s response?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they’ll be rolling and they’ll be iterative – the sanctions that are imposed – not just by Australia, but all countries around the world. And and they will just keep stepping up. I mean, there must be consequences for Russia’s actions and those who who perpetrate them, support those who perpetrate them, those who benefit from all of this must be targeted, isolated and there must be consequences for this type of behaviour, because that should send a very strong message to any other bullies and thugs out there that this type of behaviour is not acceptable.
JOURNALIST: Is the Australian Army being briefed?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they’ve been involved in everything that we’re doing. They the Chief of Defence Force sits on the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Security Committee of Cabinet as an adviser. So we’ve been working closely with our Defence Forces, and where we’re able to assist in the broader efforts using those assets and personnel, we do. But obviously that doesn’t involve people being deployed in in the region.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just in terms of the sanctions against individuals, you mentioned that eight members of Russia’s Security Council will be targeted. But there are 12 members. Could you tell us if this includes the Deputy Chair Medvedev, Sergei Lavrov or the individual that runs the Russian spy agency, the FSB?
PRIME MINISTER: We will be taking action against those in the Committee that have also been identified by our partners. So we’re still working through those processes now. We’re working in concert with the United States and the United Kingdom.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, French President Emmanuel Macron has been in dialogue with Vladimir Putin to try and put Vladimir Putin on a, off a full scale invasion. Have you had a chance to speak with the French President and do you support his intervention?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, I haven’t, but I do support any attempts to try and avoid this, but not without qualification. I mean, there cannot be any suggestion that concessions should be provided to a bully and a, and a thug in return for not following through with threats of violence. That’s not the sort of appeasement I would ever support, and I don’t think Australians would either in this or any other situation. But, certainly, I I appreciate the considerable pressure that President Macron and so many other leaders, Olaf Scholz as well. I welcome the decision he’s made on Nord Stream. I think that’s a very strong message, and I’m speaking with him next week about these and many other issues. And so I think many leaders have been seeking to do their best. But at the same time, it’s important that we hold the line that you cannot have Russia tell Ukraine about whether they can be in NATO or not, or or issues that also impact on their sovereignty as a nation. They can’t be a nation in name only. You, they must have sovereign carriage of their own futures and their own decisions, and that can’t be the subject of bullying or threats or intimidation.
JOURNALIST: Will the West be able to hold firm against Russia’s movements? Will the West be able to hold firm against Vladimir Putin?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe so, but I can assure you Australia will, and I can assure you that those partners we work most closely with will. The question is, how many more will join us? And I think that’s really important. I mean, I applaud the work of the EU, as I said, the German Chancellor, I applaud his decision today, over the last 24 hours, in relation to Nord Stream. I think that showed some real resolve. You know, when you face bullying and intimidation, yes, there’s blowback. Yes, there’s threats to your economic interests and you attract a lot of attention by those who seek to to bully and threaten you. Australia understands this better than most. It’s a point I’ve been seeking to make now for some years to fellow liberal democracies. We are now living in a world where authoritarian autocracies are seeking to have their way. And the only defence against that is those countries that favour a world order that favours freedom, and liberal democracies have to stand together. And so many other countries, even if they’re not liberal democracies, who do believe in those principles of the sovereignty of states, we need to stand together, and Australia will. We’ll always do that. And, but right now, my gravest fears and concerns are for the people of Ukraine and the many thousands, 38,000, Australians of Ukrainian descent who will be terribly worried about loved ones, families, friends, because what we’ve seen amassed on their border is is horrible, the worst kind of violence. Thanks very much.
