As horrific as last year's assassination of Kim Jong-nam on the orders of his half brother, and North Korea's president, Kim Jong-un, the Istanbul incident risks branding the 86-year old nation as just another "rogue state" governed by a ruling clique that will go to any lengths to protect itself.

The law is not the king in The Kingdom; King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his heir apparent, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are above the law.

This is why they were so offended by Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, who dared speak the truth about their top heavy regime.

Turkish authorities say the killing was a premeditated murder by a Saudi hit squad. The Saudis have now acknowledged that the journalist was targeted inside the Instanbul consulate. Given the widespread and growing suspicion the slaying was ordered either by the Crown Prince or subordinates acting with his knowledge, Australia finds itself on the horns of a moral dilemma.

We have condemned Russian president Valdimir Putin over MH17 and over the attacks in Salisbury. We have also condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the assassination of his half brother.

Where is our strongly worded condemnation of the Saudis over the murder of Khashoggi? Where is our arms embargo? They seem to have been buried in the same filing cabinet as our missing protests over the illegal proxy war Saudi Arabia has been waging in Yemen for years.

Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. At least 10,000 people have been killed, 230,000 wounded and an estimated two million forced to flee their homes.

When the Saudi's bombed a school bus, killing 43 people including 29 children, in August commentators said it was the result of ineptitude and, as such, would not qualify as a war crime.

It is now more than two years since former chief of army and 2016 Australian of the Year, David Morrison, made the phrase "the standard you walk past is the standard you accept" part of the Australian lexicon. He, and the expression's originator, former chief of defence force and now NSW Governor, David Hurley, had been referring to inappropriate behaviour in the Australian Defence Force.

Both argued ignoring bad behaviour by friends or colleagues was the same as endorsing it. The only way to be true to yourself was to call out wrong when you saw it being done.

The phrase was quickly adopted by the wider community because it could be applied to almost any field of endeavour, including international affairs and diplomacy.

While there are obviously pragmatic reasons underpinning Australia's close relationship with the Saudis, which saw four secret arms export deals signed off on last year, the time has come to take another look.

Is this the standard we choose to accept? Australia cannot look the other way, and needs to send a strong signal to the Saudis through arms export bans, sanctions or other measures to show that the values of democracy and the international rule of law that we hold sacred as a nation are more important that trading and strategic parterships.