Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of all answers given to all coalition questions today during question time.

The decision to expel the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran is both welcome and necessary but gives rise to some very serious questions. The actions of Iran demonstrate that this is one of the most egregious acts of foreign interference against our nation since the darkest days of the Cold War. In fact, this is the first time an ambassador has been expelled from our country since the Japanese ambassador was expelled in 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbour. All Australians are shocked to learn of the serious and chilling foreign interference which has been perpetrated by Iran on Australian soil.

The coalition supports the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador and the listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. As the director-general of ASIO explained, the Iranian government has been confirmed as having directed at least two attacks against Australia's Jewish community, including the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue. Australians rightly expect zero tolerance for foreign backed terror and antisemitic violence on our soil. These revelations lay bare just how severe Australia's antisemitism crisis has become.

The coalition called for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador last year when he praised Hezbollah's terrorist leader. The coalition has been urging the government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation for more than two years, and we will back any legislative changes introduced by the government without delay. The Australian Jewish community deserves safety not excuses. This must be the start of a broader crackdown on Iranian regime proxies, foreign interference and intimidation in Australia.

In question time today, the Foreign Minister said that Iran has been known to be a disruptive and malign actor for many years. This gives rise to a very obvious question: why, then, has it taken so long for the government to act? The Iranian regime has a well documented history of sponsoring terrorism domestically and internationally. The government's delay raises concerns about the government's priorities, it raises concerns about the government's commitment to national security, and it raises concerns about the government's ability to protect all Australians. This point was put very eloquently to me just today by a correspondent from Western Australia, Professor Matthew Ogilvie. He said this:

The expulsion of Iran's Ambassador is a necessary step, but it comes too late to absolve the Albanese government of its delayed response.

Australians deserve a government that prioritises their safety over political ideologies. The failure to act decisively on clear warnings about a known state sponsor of terrorism raises questions about the government's competence in national security matters. Iran, governed by a regime driven by ideological fanaticism, shows every sign of continuing its global campaign of global influence and violence. Australia cannot afford further delays or missteps. The Albanese government must face scrutiny for its inaction, and voters should hold it accountable at the next election.

These events should raise alertness, awareness and preparedness regarding the continued interference and activities of other authoritarian regimes.

Remember this. Yesterday the director-general of ASIO said that 'authoritarian regimes are more willing to engage in reckless, high-harm activities' than ever before. While the Iranian regime has captured the attention of this country in the last few years—indeed, it has captured the attention of the country in the last 24 hours—we must make sure that it is the end and not the beginning of more examples of other authoritarian regimes choosing to act with recklessness and engage in high-harm activities on Australian soil.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I find it ironic when those opposite come and try to lecture this government about our track record when it comes to dealing with the issue of the Iranian government. Our government, from day one since we were elected, has done nothing other than take action. Those opposite, for the last nine years when they were in government—what did they do? Absolutely nothing. This government has done more to defend the rights of and stand by the very strong, very diverse and very proud diaspora that we have here in Australia of the Iranian community—I know there's a very large community in my home state of Victoria—who have unfortunately gone through some very dark times with their officials here in Canberra and others.

What this government has done is take the necessary action, the reasonable action that any government would take. We have taken strong action against not just the Iranian government but the IRGC. We have put more sanctions on individuals and entities, on the Iranians, than any other government has in our history. Minister Wong made that point today in question time, but those opposite seem to go over history as if it never occurred. We have taken 200 sanctions on Iran and the IRGC. We have taken action at the United Nations. We have taken much more decisive action than those opposite have ever taken.

It is worth reminding people in this place that the government has imposed three packages of sanctions on Iran in response to the abhorrent abuses of human rights and the brutal crackdown on protests following the death of Jina Amini some years ago. We made that point time and time again over the last couple of years. I was the deputy chair of the Senate inquiry that looked at the Iranian government's treatment of its own citizens. The Australian government, since the Labor government was elected back in 2022, has taken decisive action against the Iranian government, against Iranian officials, against people who are involved in the IRGC.

Those opposite say those announcements should have happened sooner, but I think they also forget or neglect to understand that in Australia the government also needs to adhere to the laws of the place. Our fine men and women in ASIO and the Australian Federal Police have said to government, 'Look, we now have enough credible, substantive evidence to suggest that Iran is behind at least two attacks against the Jewish community here in Australia,' allowing the government to take the necessary steps to bring legislation into this place to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, and to possibly even allow the government to take the steps of further sanctions against the Iranian officials.

It is also great to see that the government has taken decisive action against the Iranian ambassador here in Canberra—someone who, I know many senators across the aisle would know, spruiked fear and tried to divide our community and to unsettle the social cohesion that this country is so proud of.

This multicultural nation has such a wonderful, diverse group of people that can actually live in harmony, regardless of where they have come from. They've migrated here and they call Australia home. The Iranian ambassador and a number of other officials have been rightly asked to leave, and to leave promptly. It is also good to know that many of our diplomats in Tehran have also been evacuated and are now in a safe place.

I want to place on the record that this government has taken more action against the Iranian government than any other government in the history of our Commonwealth. I feel like it's really cheap for those opposite to come in here and accuse this government of doing nothing when from day one since we were elected we have taken the necessary action to protect the diaspora here in this country and to say no to the Iranian government. Shame on them for their behaviour towards Australian citizens.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of all answers given by the government, but I want to focus specifically on those answers around housing, which is an issue that is dear to my heart. Before I do, I want to correct the record here. Senator Ciccone, I know, feels very deeply about this issue of the sanctions that have been placed on Iran and the decisions the government has made just this week to expel the Iranian ambassador in response to the egregious behaviour of the IRGC in fanning the flames of antisemitism and social division in this country. The coalition supports those measures, and the government knows that. But where the government has failed is in acting on this earlier, because all the warning signs were there.

I know that Senator Ciccone says that his government has done more than any previous government, but can I remind Senator Ciccone that we are seeing this increased activity from the IRGC because of the despicable behaviour that was demonstrated in Iran after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. That was in September 2022, so it was when this government was in place. We are responding to an issue that occurred while Labor was in power. When that occurred, Senator Chandler's committee looked at the appropriate responses to the uprising that occurred in Iran and the fear that was being felt by the Iranian diaspora here in Australia. They were saying they felt they had seen an increased level of foreign interference, surveillance, stalking and harassment. That's what Senator Chandler's committee was responding to. That's why the opposition, the coalition, said to the government, 'It's time to take strong action against the IRGC.'

That was ignored. In fact, what the government said at the time was: 'We can't. We haven't got the legislative power to do so. We can't list them as a terrorist organisation because they are'—I think this was the official phrase—'an organ of the state of Iran.' So we said: 'We'll help you do something about it. We'll help you legislate.' But they did nothing. They sat on their hands. Now, two years later, they've said, 'Look, we're doing more than anyone else has done before,' but what could you have prevented if you had acted earlier? That is the question that Labor has failed to answer, and that is why we will keep asking the question.

Let me talk about housing, because this is something I take very seriously. We have asked question after question on the Housing Australia Future Fund. For those playing along at home, the Housing Australia Future Fund is $10 billion that has been borrowed in your name to invest in housing to solve the housing crisis in Australia. We have asked how many houses the Housing Australia Future Fund has built, and we are not getting straight answers from the government. We even heard Senator Wong obfuscating today. She's wriggling around. She will not answer the question. How many has it built?

Last year, when we asked Senator Gallagher this question at Senate estimates, she admitted that in fact the Housing Australia Future Fund hadn't built any houses; it had only purchased houses. That's not solving a housing crisis, is it? It's not building a single new house. It was $10 billion to purchase a couple of hundred houses? Still we see that the government will not come clean.

How many houses has the Housing Australia Future Fund built, because it's a hell of a lot of money to borrow in the name of the Australian taxpayer to not build houses.

The government has promised 1.2 million new houses in five years. It needs to build 250,000 houses a year. It is building nothing like that amount; in fact, it's building fewer houses per year than were built every single year under a coalition government—fewer under Labor. Not only that; it has increased the amount of regulation and red tape in the industry portfolio, the infrastructure portfolio and the Treasury portfolio. That means it's harder to build houses now than it was just a few years ago. No wonder there is a housing crisis, but it's a housing crisis of Labor's making, and they are yet to find a solution and they are hiding their failures in response. This is a housing crisis of Labor's making, but it is Australians, particularly young Australians, trying to buy their first home that are paying the price for Labor's failures.

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers given in question time. I'll take my lead from Senator Hume, who's just talked a bit about housing. I must say, I'm a little confused about the obsession that those opposite seem to have with, firstly, trying to catch us out on numbers, despite being provided with numbers time and time again in answers to questions in this place and elsewhere, and, also, this idea of a 'spare room' tax. As we've said time and time again—a number of my colleagues on this side of the chamber said it yesterday—it is not an idea that came from government or the round table. I know those opposite are a little bit upset that they weren't invited to the round table, but this wasn't an idea that was mentioned once during those discussions; I make that point to them again.

It's characteristically dishonest of the opposition, who regularly peddle these kinds of lies in an attempt to—

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Whiteaker—

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My apologies; I withdraw—these sorts of messages without providing any real solutions to the housing crisis. We know that housing is a challenge, particularly for many of my fellow young Australians. That is why we have been really clear that it is top of our agenda. Our $43 billion housing agenda is pretty simple. It's focused on three things: building more homes, making it easier to buy a first home and making it easier to rent.

In the last term of government, more than 180,000 Australians bought their first home with Labor's five per cent deposit program. That's why we have committed to expanding that program and why I'm so thrilled that the Prime Minister announced just this week that we will bring that forward to 1 October. I know just how much of a difference that will make to young Australians who are doing the hard work day in and day out but are still struggling to make their deposit.

Also in the last term, more than a million households received a 45 per cent increase on rental assistance. Since we came to office, we've built 500,000 homes and new housing approvals are up 30 per cent. We've stabilised construction costs, and we've seen 28,000 social and affordable homes in planning and construction—homes for the people who need them most. But there is more work to do, and, unlike those opposite, we're not distracting or peddling a message on social media that sounds nice; we're actually taking action. We have a plan to build even more homes than we've already built.

We will continue on the path to build 55,000 social and affordable homes, as well as building 100,000 homes just for first home buyers. We are working towards what is a really bold but really important aspiration of 1.2 million homes in five years.

We're also making it better to rent because we know that not everyone is ready to buy their first home right now, and they shouldn't be held back by Senator Bragg and his friends. Instead we should make renting fairer, which we have done by working with the states. We will also ensure that there are thousands more rental homes built, and we will continue to work with the states to lift rental standards. We will also continue, as I said, to help first home buyers get into the market with our Help to Buy scheme.

What is really, really clear is that those opposite have no ideas on housing. They have no policy to get more Australians into homes. They have no policy to make renting more affordable, but Labor does.

Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers to all coalition questions, and particularly the question asked by Senator Chandler regarding the listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, as a terrorist organisation. On this side we welcome the action that the government has taken to expel Iran's ambassador and other senior diplomatic officials and to announce that it will take steps to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation because, frankly, the revelations we heard overnight, announced by the director of security and others, about Iran's gross foreign interference in Australia are unacceptable. Here we have a foreign state actor conducting or supporting and instigating attacks on Australian soil against Australian citizens in a way designed to undermine Australian values.

We welcome the steps that have been taken, but I think we do have to legitimately ask the question of why it has taken so long to act. Let me recount the history here. As Senator Chandler said, it's clear from documents released under freedom of information that well over 2½ years ago work was underway examining the possibility of listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. That's from January 2023. On 1 February 2023, coalition senators, in a Senate committee report, recommended listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. On 14 February 2023, 2 ½ years ago, the then home affairs minister Clare O'Neil, member for Hotham, in a speech to the ANU, went into quite elaborate detail about the foreign interference, as she termed it, being conducted by Iran on Australian soil. So this is not a new phenomenon. There had been people, on this side of the parliament at least, calling for firmer action for some time, and there had been ministers in this government who acknowledged that Iran was taking active steps to intimidate Australian residents and citizens and also to seek to sow social discord.

I want to particularly draw the attention of the chamber to in a debate that was held here on 8 October last year. This is eight months ago, on 8 October 2024. A motion was put, urging the need for the government to act by listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation and declaring the current Iranian ambassador to Australia persona non grata. This motion was debated in the Senate on 8 October 2024, a little over eight months ago now. What we heard from those opposite, particularly from Senator Ayres, in response to that motion was extraordinary. Senator Ayres, in the debate at that time, accused Senator Chandler, who put forward this motion simply asking the government to do what it announced yesterday it was going to do, of 'the most grossly irresponsible approach on these questions'. He continued:

The fact that she continues in this vein is contemptible.

He described her actions as utterly irresponsible and utterly reckless. He said it was politicking and crass, base partisan politics. He said that her even asking this question undermined the Australian national interest when lives are in the balance.

So we now have someone who is a senior minister in the government, Senator Ayres, that, a little over eight months ago, accused Senator Chandler for having the courage and the foresight to say the government should do what they announced to do yesterday. They accused her of being 'utterly irresponsible', 'contemptible' and engaged in grossly irresponsible behaviour. Well, what do you know? Eight months later the government has done exactly what Senator Chandler urged it to do. It has proceeded to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, or has announced its intent to do so, and it has expelled the Iranian ambassador.

I want to highlight one other point. We heard from Senator Wong earlier that this government has taken stronger action against Iran than any previous government. Earlier this year I and a number of others highlighted the actions of a supposedly sanctioned Iranian entity, PressTV, which was designated under our sanctions regime in September 2023, that was operating in flagrant violation of the sanctions regime in February 2025 and operating with impunity as a media organisation in Australia. I'm yet to see any action or evidence of action undertaken against PressTV.

Question agreed to.