Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Has the minister investigated all funding commitments, both secret and public, made by the Albanese Labor government to extremist Islamic organisations which have mourned the death of the evil Ayatollah Khomeini?

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for International Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member opposite for his question, though I do take some issue with the inference there about secret funding. The funding that was spoken about earlier this week was very much publicly made. The commitment was very publicly made. And, as I said in this House in response to questions from the shadow minister at the time of finding out about the incident that happened, I asked the department to stop what was an active process. That has now been stopped. In relation to further matters, I will reiterate what I said last time in this House, which is that this government takes very seriously the fact that all public funding that goes to any organisations, whether they are religious organisations, whether they are cultural organisations or sporting organisations—we take very seriously the role that they play in ensuring that their activities are in line with the standards that Australian taxpayers expect.