Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, outside, on the lawns of parliament, Australians gathered—Persian Australians. There were mothers and fathers, students, retired people and professionals, people who love this country and who fear for their family still in Iran. They stood together to demand Australia act, and today I am rising to make sure their voice is heard in this chamber.

They came with serious concerns about the promotion of radical Islamist ideology on Australian soil, about the intimidation of the Australian Iranian community, about foreign interference in our democratic institutions and about the threat extremism poses to our social cohesion and our public safety. These aren't fringe concerns. These are people who know what it is for their families to live under authoritarian rule.

I'm proud to represent the third-largest Persian community in Australia. For a decade I've stood with Persian Australians who've left Iran because a criminal regime has made their lives a living hell. I've called out the regime's abuses of the Baha'i people, its persecution of women and minorities, its human rights violations and its terrorist proxy funding around the world. I called for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador years before the government took action, and I called for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organisation long before this government had to do so. At every turn, we've had to drag the government kicking and screaming, and I'm here today because, again, the situation demands action.

I want to raise a specific matter that constituents and community representatives have brought to my attention. It's an outrage that goes to the heart of why there are people out the front of our building today. In April this year, the Iranian embassy in Canberra used its official Telegram channel to promote a website called Janfada.net. Janfada means 'sacrificing life'. It's language rooted in jihadist martyrdom ideology. This isn't a cultural platform; it's a recruitment site, operating under the command of the IRGC, targeting men and women as young as 12, urging them to engage in jihad against Australia, the United States and Israel.

The IRGC is now a listed terrorist organisation in this country. Involvement with it can carry a 25-year prison sentence, and yet the Iranian embassy—on our soil, in our nation's capital, sheltered by diplomatic status—is using official channels to recruit Australians into that organisation. That's not diplomacy; that is the abuse of every diplomatic privilege this country has extended to that mission.

Community representatives have asked the government to direct ASIO and the AFP to investigate the embassy's promotion of this recruitment platform. They have asked for protection for Iranian Australians at risk, and they've asked for accountability over the embassy's operations. I'm putting the government on notice: I will keep pressing these concerns directly. I will not let them rest.

It's not a new problem, this inaction; it's a pattern. In February 2023, as the shadow attorney-general at the time, I stood in the parliament and called for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organisation. I offered coalition support at that time for any legislation needed, and it took two years for the government to act. It took two regime-coordinated attacks on Australians on our own soil before the government finally acted. That's not leadership; that is being dragged kicking and screaming to do what the situation demands.

I'm also ashamed, as an Australian, that even as the human rights abuses mounted, Labor luminaries like Bob Carr were lining up for happy snaps with Iran's ambassador. A values-based foreign policy has to mean something. Iran doesn't deserve any seat at the diplomatic table, and no Australian government should allow diplomatic premises to be used as a base for terror recruitment. I will never forget a constituent bringing a leather-bound phone-book-sized document to my office, once, with the names and photos of people who had been murdered and disappeared by this regime. It is those people who I think about every time I speak on this issue.

The protests that swept through Iran, from late 2025 into this year, were met with murderous force. More than 60,000 were killed and over 100,000 were arrested. That's bigger than the size of an Australian electorate. The regime shut down the internet and opened fire on the crowds. Those outside the parliament today told those stories of fear because they know what it is, being in Australia, to live in an open society. The concerns they raised about social cohesion, democratic values and community safety are matters of national importance, and they need more attention.

That's why I believe it is time that Australia should invite Reza Pahlavi to visit our country. He's spent decades advocating for a free, secular and democratic Iran. He has immense credibility with the Persian diaspora and among those who study this region. He's a person who Australians—in particular, people in this parliament and in our communities—need to hear. His voice would strengthen our national conversation about what a free Iran could look like and what role we in Australia could play in supporting that vision. I hope that we bring him here to hear his voice.