Monday, 12 October 2026

House of Representatives

Mr Tim Wilson MP:

Another topic I want to raise tonight is the importance of the hostages currently being held in Azerbaijan. In September 2023, while I was out of office, I was part of a delegation to visit Armenia. In recognising my Armenian heritage, it was an enormously important visit for me. What I didn't realise was the scale of the importance of the visit, because one of the days we were there was the day of Azerbaijan's invasion of the Republic of Artsakh, the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Over the following days, we went down to the town of Goris, which is on the border of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, and watched 100,000 displaced people move from their homeland into Armenia. They were received by the International Red Cross and needed immediate support and assistance. The terrible thing—as we were driving to get to Goris from the capital, Yerevan—was that we watched as the ambulances whirred past. Goris is a small town. It's the first town on the border. It didn't have ambulances. The Azerbaijanis were blowing up petrol stations that were fuelling the vehicles of the Armenians that were fleeing the region and going into Armenia for safety, and the ambulances were racing off to be able to make sure that people would get home safely.

Today I had representation from the Armenian National Committee of Australia—and I want to thank them for their representation. They particularly highlighted the ongoing imprisonment of Armenians held by the Azerbaijani regime: Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Babayan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Davit Manukyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, Ruben Vardanyan, Madat Babayan, Melikset Pashayan, Garik Martirosyan, Davit Allahverdyan, Levon Balayan, Vasili Beglaryan, Gurgen Stepanyan, Erik Ghazaryan, Vicken Euljekjian, Gevorg Sujyan and Davit Davtyan. All have been held as hostages by the Azerbaijani regime ever since, often, to be frank, on questionable charges, many sentenced to many years of life in prison, and all because they stood up for their homeland against an invading nation. We have to be very clear eyed about the consequences of what happens when people are held as hostages and the need for them to be able to be released. So, to the Foreign minister, I hope that there are appropriate representations for their release and to make sure that they are not punished simply for wanting to defend their homeland and stand up for their way of life.