All 30 have been charged with piracy and hooliganism, charges that carry sentences of 15 and 7 years respectively for an attempt to peacefully hang a banner on an arctic oil platform.
59 year old Colin Russell’s wife Christine and daughter Madeleine were in the Parliament to witness the vote. They thanked the Greens for the initiative and for the unanimous support of all parties.
"This motion means a lot to Maddy and I. Colin is a peaceful and gentle man - anyone who has met him knows he is neither a pirate nor a hooligan. Col was in the Arctic with Greenpeace because he cares deeply about the planet we're leaving for our children.
“Colin has been locked up in a cell for 57 days and we've only spoken to him once on the phone. We miss him dearly and hope that more pressure like this will bring him safely back into our arms,” Mrs Russell said.
The Abbott Government has been criticised for its failure to match the action taken by other Governments. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop has said that there is no scope for the Australian Government to intervene in the Russian legal process despite many other Governments making strong representations at a head-of-state level to the Russian Government.
"Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's position risks abandoning a peaceful Australian who has never even had a parking fine,” said Greenpeace Senior Campaigner Reece Turner.
“Other Governments including the UK, France, the Netherlands, Brazil and Germany have made strong representations to the Russian Government over the ongoing detention of the Arctic 30 and the extreme and disproportionate charges they face.
“The Abbott government should follow in the footsteps of Germany, Brazil, the UK and France and more publicly take on the cause of working to see the safe return of these peaceful protesters,” Mr Turner said.
The Dutch Government has lodged a rare application at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) requesting the immediate release of the Arctic 30 and the Dutch-flagged Greenpeace vessel the Arctic Sunrise. An outcome is expected on 22 November 2013.
On 24 November the two-month detention period imposed on the Arctic 30 by the Leninsky District Court of Murmansk comes to an end. Under Russian law the charges against the detainees must be heard or the detention period must be formally extended.
Contact: Alison Orme for Greenpeace Australia Pacific 0432 332 104
A timeline of the events can be found here.