Scott Morrison pledges ‘lethal aid’ and open-door policy for Ukrainians
Australia will buy weapons for Ukraine and offer people fleeing the war preferential access to key visa classes.
Australia will buy weapons for Ukraine through the provision of “lethal aid”, and open the doors for Ukrainians fleeing the war through preferential access to key visa classes.
Scott Morrison said Australia would work through NATO to provide arms to Ukraine, but the extent of the contribution was still being determined on Sunday night.
“We are already providing significant support in terms of non-lethal aid, but I have just spoken with the Defence Minister and we will be seeking to provide whatever support we can for lethal aid through our NATO partners, particularly the US and the United Kingdom,” the Prime Minister said.
“We will be working through those channels because that is the most effective way to do it.
“They are already providing support in those areas and we will be assisting them with what they are doing.”
The move follows a new German pledge to provide 1000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles, and an extra $US350m ($483m) worth of US armaments for Ukrainian forces announced in recent days.
Mr Morrison said Russia “must pay a heavy price” for its invasion of Ukraine, and Australia would continue to add to that price “as we consider every single option in front of us”.
The Prime Minister, who attended a Ukrainian church vigil in western Sydney on Sunday, said Australia would also help with the “heavy lifting” in supporting those displaced by the conflict.
Ukrainians would be offered preferential entry to Australia not only as refugees but through the family, skilled and student visa programs. “After two years where our immigration intake has been low, there is quite a lot of room within those programs to take in more places, and Ukrainians will have priority in terms of the processing of those visas,” Mr Morrison said.
He said Australia “will be very prepared to take more and more and more” Ukrainians, “as we have with Afghanistan”.
Australia has already announced sweeping economic sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime, freezing assets and banning transactions with Russian oligarchs and figures with military links, and blacklisting Russian banks. Mr Morrison also backed the US and EU decision to kick Russia out of the SWIFT international payments.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT system “will bite – and that is a good thing”.
She said Labor wanted to see further consequences for Russian aggression, and would continue to offer bipartisan support for “the most comprehensive and heaviest sanctions Australia can and should take”.
“All Australians stand with the people of Ukraine, and Australians are united in our condemnation of Russia and Mr Putin’s unprovoked, unjustified act of aggression, an act which we are seeing played out on our screens, where we see the attacks on civilians, on people’s homes, towns and cities,” Senator Wong said.
Amid fears of Russian retaliation against Western allies in the form of cyber attacks, the Australian Cyber Security Centre issued an updated threat warning on the risk of ransomware strikes.
It said hackers linked to the Russia-based cybercrime group Conti had vowed to hit enemies of the Kremlin if they responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Australian organisations should continue to maintain vigilance to the threat of ransomware,” the security centre said.
Earlier, Mr Morrison told parishioners at St Andrews Ukrainian Church in Lidcombe that Australia had “thrown its arms” around the more than 40,000 Australians of Ukrainian ancestry. “I have come here this morning with Jenny to offer prayers, and encouragement,” he said. “We seek a peace that is the sovereignty of Ukraine. That is what peace is for and that is what the world community demands.”
Young men and women holding young children were in tears as they proudly sang the Ukrainian national anthem at the vigil. “Schne me vmerla Ukraina,” they sang, which translates to “Ukraine has not perished”.
Klava Djaczenko, who turns 100 in September and travelled an hour from Quakers Hill to the vigil, had a clear message for the Prime Minister. “Don’t trust Putin, don’t trust the Russian Federation,” she said. Fighting back tears, she recalled being shipped from Ukraine to Germany to work in a labour camp before moving to Australia after World War II.
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