Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was the most uninspiring speech. I wonder if you really believe what you said. The Labor government's expulsion of the Iranian ambassador comes far too late for the victims of these crimes.

For years, people who have escaped that hideous regime have been telling the Australian government about the illegal activities of the regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in our country—surveillance, intimidation, coercion, threats and the violence unleashed on our streets. ASIO should be commended for its excellent work in uncovering the links between the Iranian embassy and the attacks on the Australian community. ASIO should have been listened to much earlier, when it made warnings about the regime and its activities.

It turns out others should have been heard, too. That includes One Nation. For years I've been warning about the threat of Iran and similar countries where radical Islam is dominant. In fact, only days after the terrorist attacks orchestrated by Iran against Israel in October 2023, I said:

Australia must … re-examine its relationship with the regime in Iran, the financier and supplier of Islamic terror across the world. At the very least, our diplomatic presence in Tehran must be withdrawn and any Iranian diplomats should be expelled from our country.

I said that here almost two years ago. It also includes the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, which in February 2023 recommended the government take steps to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

But Labor refused to listen, probably because Iran was doing exactly what the Labor Left wanted them to do by attacking Israel. Labor has only now been embarrassed into taking action, after ignoring the warnings and pretending Iran was no threat to Australia. I urge this incompetent government to act decisively and increase security resources so this may never happen again. And heed my warning: don't bring people from Gaza into this country. (Time expired)