Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

There were a number of questions from the coalition to the government in relation to the ISIS brides: what the government did know; what the government did not know; what the government has done; and what the government has not done. But there was one in particular that I want to begin on, particularly in light of the need for us to find ways to focus on things that unite Australians rather than divide Australians. One of the questions to Senator Wong related to the government's reaction or response to the death of the Supreme Leader of Iran. Senator Wong answered, 'We don't mourn the passing of Iran's Supreme Leader.' I agree with that in totality. This was a regime that killed—murdered—thousands of its own people. This is a regime that sent forces or individuals to Australia to attack and kill Australians here in Australia. The Iranian government, under the directive of this so-called Supreme Leader, ordered attacks on synagogues, restaurants and childcare centres not in the Middle East but in Sydney and Melbourne. For anybody to stand here and defend that is entirely unacceptable. I'm grateful that the government and the opposition stand together on that.

I'm also concerned about the number of mosques in Australia that have held services to mourn the ayatollah's death, and statements like—I'll quote from the question from Senator Cash—'the pious scholar, the foremost martyr of the Islamic revolution, and the rightful deputy of the Iman of the age'. I reject that in its totality because somebody who is 'pious and rightful' doesn't seek the death of innocents. They don't send directives to countries like Australia, where we have a democratic rule of law, and seek the destruction of houses of worship, of commercial businesses or of the places where we care for our children. That is entirely unacceptable. We reject it in its totality.

When it comes to our questions around what the government did and didn't do, and does and doesn't know, in relation to the ISIS brides, Senator Wong answered a question from Senator Paterson saying that she can only speak to the actions of the Australian government and Australian officials, and that she wasn't able to answer questions in relation to Dr Rifi. I believe that the government does know more than it is telling us, and that is the basis of our questions today. We want to know, and the Australian public deserves to know, what promises were made to Dr Rifi before he left—before he went to assist the so-called ISIS brides and their return to Australia. I think we deserve to know that as a matter of course. We deserve to know that in the context of what has occurred in this country over the last couple of years, but particularly in relation to how it culminated on 14 December with the murder of 15 innocents at Bondi Beach. I think we are entitled to ask these questions, and we are entitled to have honest and clear answers to those questions. We didn't get those today.

The coalition will introduce legislation to make it a criminal offence to facilitate the re-entry of individuals linked to terrorist hotspots or terrorist organisations or those who have committed terror related offences—and rightly so. If you leave this country in order to facilitate terrorism, then you should be asked serious questions about why you should be allowed to return to this country. And we should be entitled to say, 'No, you've made your decision, and you cannot come back.'