Topics: Iranian Ambassador to Australia
0605 AEST
4 October 2024
Ben Fordham: All eyes are on the Federal Government today. They’re under pressure to expel Iran’s top diplomat in Australia. The Iranian Ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, has been caught out making a number of controversial statements. His latest has drawn the attention of the Opposition, who say he should be sent packing. Mr Sadeghi posted on social media about the death of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He said the terrorist figure was a remarkable leader. The Ambassador says he was a blessed martyr who led the struggle against the vile entity of the Zionist regime and that martyrdom is the dignified path of such great men and nothing else can be expected from them.
Joining us on the line, the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Birmingham. Simon, good morning to you.
Simon Birmingham: Good morning, Ben. It’s good to be with you.
Ben Fordham: What should happen to the Ambassador?
Simon Birmingham: Well, the Ambassador should be packing his bags to be heading back to Tehran. That’s what should be happening. This is not the first occasion for this Ambassador. We had, a couple of months back, an instance where he was sowing the seeds of division within Australia by calling for the destruction of Israel and for the elimination of Jews and sowing such hatred within our country. And he got a talking-to by the Albanese Government. Obviously that was woefully ineffective because here we are now, a couple of months later, where he’s essentially repeating that in terms of promoting division, hatred and in this case celebrating the life of a terrorist leader.
Ben Fordham: It’s hate-speech, isn’t it?
Simon Birmingham: It is hate-speech, pure and simple. It is vile, it is repugnant. It has no place in Australia. And he may be here with certain diplomatic privileges, but ultimately, he’s here as a guest of the Australian Government and that invitation should be withdrawn. There are official processes to declare him persona non grata, and that would mean he’d be heading back to Tehran and that’s what should be happening.
Ben Fordham: When you got the Ambassador from Iran saying that the terror leader was a blessed martyr and that martyrdom is the dignified path of such great men, I mean, there would be an argument that that is encouraging other people to do what the likes of Hassan Nasrallah have done.
Simon Birmingham: Well in terms of the language that is used and how it would be interpreted by people, it is absolutely very disturbing and worrying as to what it may inspire or encourage and it’s just further weight as to why enough is enough. I understand the arguments the Government puts about the potential retaliation that Iran may make against Australia’s diplomats in Tehran. But we have to ultimately look at how we uphold the standards here in our own country and having him spread this vile hatred here just has no place. Iran is at the axis of all of this; they’re the funders, sponsors, coordinators of Hamas, of Hezbollah, of the Houthi rebels and of course have now been undertaking direct attacks themselves on Israel. So, we can see the Iranian regime’s evil fingerprints everywhere. What we don’t need is them spreading hate and propaganda here in our own shores.
Ben Fordham: I don’t know whether you saw the PM yesterday, when he was asked about the Iranian Ambassador, he was quite dismissive of the journalist who asked the question. He was saying, no, no, I’m not in Canberra, I’m here. I think he might have been in Queensland or Victoria or somewhere else. But should he be picking up the phone and saying, pack your bags get out of here?
Simon Birmingham: Well, the PM should be picking up the phone to Penny Wong and her department and saying, send him packing, send him home, enough is enough. We’ve tried the nice path before, to tell him to behave, to tell him to not do these sorts of things while here in Australia, and the nice path hasn’t worked. So now it is time to actually take firm action and the action available to the Government is to declare him persona non grata; to use those official diplomatic tools and therefore he’d be headed back to Iran.
Ben Fordham: Alright, let’s see if he’s got the ticker to do that today Anthony Albanese. We appreciate you jumping on the line.
Simon Birmingham: Thanks Ben my pleasure.
[END]