Australia pulls out of Saudi summit over Khashoggi death

Foreign affairs minister says it is ‘no longer appropriate’ for officials to attend the Riyadh event

The Australian government has decided it is “no longer appropriate” to attend a summit in Saudi Arabia in light of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, announced on Saturday that news of the arrests of 18 Saudi nationals implicated in Khashoggi’s death and the removal of senior Saudi government officials had caused the government to pull out of next week’s Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.

Payne said she had conveyed to the Saudi ambassador to Australia earlier in the week the government’s “serious concern” for Khashoggi’s welfare and also directed the Australian ambassador in Riyadh to raise the matter with the Saudi government.

“We strongly urge the Saudi authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and to cooperate fully with their Turkish counterparts in ascertaining the full circumstances of Mr Khashoggi’s death,” she said.

“We call on Saudi Arabia to hold all those responsible to account for this egregious act against one of its citizens.”

Earlier on Saturday, federal Labor called for the Morrison government to “send a strong signal” by boycotting a summit in Saudi Arabia.

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said that “given the uncertainty around this disturbing event, and the results of investigations into it still pending”, he did not believe Australia’s attendance was “appropriate at this time”.

The Future Investment Summit (FII) is in crisis after key sponsors pulled out, and finance ministers from France and the Netherlands announced they would not attend. On Thursday, the US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, followed suit.

Saudi Arabia admits Khashoggi killed but claims he died in 'fist-fight' Read more

Last year, Australia sent the then trade minister, Steven Ciobo, and a sponsored delegation of Australian companies. That contingent had already been downgraded before Saturday – only the Australian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the general manager of AusTrade for the Middle East were scheduled to attend.

A trio of crossbench senators – Rex Patrick from Centre Alliance, Peter Whish-Wilson from the Greens, and the Australian Conservatives’ Cory Bernardi – pushed for a complete boycott of the event earlier this week. Their motion failed to gain traction on Tuesday.

“It is appropriate that as a country we send a strong signal of our concern over Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, and our expectation that the government of Saudi Arabia provides a forthright and accurate account of what has occurred” Shorten said in a statement on Saturday.

Saudi Arabian officials released a statement on Saturday saying that Khashoggi died after a fight broke out in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.