Australia is imposing new sanctions against Myanmar's junta, but civil groups say more needs to be done to untangle Australia from junta atrocities

Australia has imposed another round of sanctions designed to strangle the flow of money to Myanmar's junta, three years after the military seized power in an illegal coup. Key points: Anti-junta groups are concerned that Australian companies are propping-up the regime A new round of sanctions will target banks that support state-owned enterprises Activists allege a dozen Australian and Australian-linked mining companies are operating in Myanmar But civil society groups are pressing the federal government to go further and target Myanmar's resource sector to stop Australian-linked mining companies from propping up the dictatorship. The CEO of Transparency International Australia, Clancy Moore, said that the new sanctions sent a "strong message from the Australian Government" but also said the government needed to target state-owned mining behemoths. "Australia's lack of sanctions on the state-owned enterprises Mining Enterprise 1 and Mining Enterprise 2 that oversee mining sector and collect revenue for the junta means the door is wide open for the ten Australian-linked mining companies to continue to do business with the corrupt and murderous military regime," he said. "Given Australia's support for democracy in the region and for the people of Myanmar, we would expect the Australian Government to follow the lead of the US, EU and Canada in sanctioning these important state-owned enterprises lining the pockets of the corrupt and murderous Myanmar generals."