THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH GARY ADSHEAD, ABC RADIO PERTH

Tuesday 26 August 2025

Topics: Iranian Attacks on Australia, Porepunkah shootings of police

E&OE……………………………………

GARY ADSHEAD: Thanks very much for your time, Andrew.

ANDREW HASTIE: Good afternoon, Gary.

GARY ADSHEAD: Is this the right decision by the Australian Government?

ANDREW HASTIE: It is the right call. It's important that a hard decision was made. A red line has been drawn, and it sets a standard for anyone else who would try and conduct foreign interference, espionage, politically motivated violence or even assassinations on Australian soil. It sends a message that we won't stand for it, and that's why the Coalition stands shoulder to shoulder with the Albanese Government on this one

GARY ADSHEAD: It's the first time, apparently, post war that an ambassador has been kicked out of Australia. Is there likely to be ramifications for this?

ANDREW HASTIE: There potentially will be ramifications, but this is the right call regardless. We had a foreign government sponsoring terrorism on our soil. The Iranian Republican Guard Corps were operationally directing proxies to attack Australians of a Jewish heritage or faith. We saw that at the Bondi bakery, we saw that at the Adass Synagogue, there's potentially other things that they've done. But also, Iran here has a very strong geopolitical objective and that is to undermine our social cohesion, and of course, to force pressure on the Australian Government with regards to things that are happening in Israel, Gaza and elsewhere.

GARY ADSHEAD: In recent days, of course, we've seen the Australian Prime Minister referred to as weak by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Does this change the ledger? Does this help Anthony Albanese by kicking out these Iranian diplomats?

ANDREW HASTIE: The Coalition has disagreed with aspects of Prime Minister Albanese's foreign policy, particularly recognising a Palestinian state without conditions, and especially while Hamas still holds on to hostages. But I think the intervention by Prime Minister Netanyahu was unhelpful for the relationship, and as I said on ABC Radio National last week, I'll always back the Australian Government because I'm a patriot and I want to support Australia. But in this instance, this was a good decision by the government. It was excellent work conducted by ASIO and other supporting agencies and again, it sends a very, very strong signal that we won't tolerate this sort of operational activity which is contrary to our national interest and undermines the safety and the social cohesion of our community. The other thing I'd say is, Gary, we're going to move very quickly with the Albanese Government to amend the Criminal Code to list the Iranian Republican Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. We called on the government to do that since 2023 about 10 times. We also called for the termination of diplomatic relations last year with Iran. So our point today would be, this has probably taken too long, but we're glad we're here and we support the government in this.

GARY ADSHEAD: And that's not a difficult process, is it, once a decision has been made by a government using its intelligence agencies to give the reasons for why the IRGC would be prescribed?

ANDREW HASTIE: Definitely. You don't need to be an intelligence expert to realise why they should be listed. And so we'll be working very quickly with the Labor government to get this done.

GARY ADSHEAD: What about Australians living in Iran right now, should they be nervous?

ANDREW HASTIE: That will be a tough situation for Australians of dual citizenship living in Iran right now. Of course, the government has expelled the Iranian Ambassador. He's declared three of the Embassy officials persona non grata. But we do need to maintain contact with Iran, obviously, especially if we have Australians over there. So we need to maintain some sort of relationship. But like all relationships, there are boundaries, and if you don't insist on boundaries, you'll get walked over. And so today, the Australian Commonwealth, with the loyal Opposition – we are loyal to this country – we back the government and there's been a line drawn in the sand.

GARY ADSHEAD: Alright. And do you think this will be a smooth process? Because I assume that the Ambassador to Australia from Iran is now either protesting or getting the cleaners in. Which one would it be do you think?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, I hope he's taken his orders and he's on the next flight out of here, because he's not welcome. There are diplomatic protocols in place. The last thing you'd expect is for someone have to be frog marched out of the country. I expect if you've been expelled, you go at the first possible opportunity. And my expectation, without being briefed on how that actually happens, would be that the Iranian Ambassador would leave at the first opportunity.

GARY ADSHEAD: Should this win back for the Albanese Government, some of its losses around Jewish people not feeling that the Australian Government had their back here when it came to antisemitism.

ANDREW HASTIE: You heard the comment by Mike Burgess just earlier – Director General of ASIO – that the Iranian government was fanning the flames of antisemitism. They were behind these two operational acts. They were potentially involved with others. That's good that it's been uncovered and action has been taken, but antisemitism is still on the rise. It's on the rise since 7 October, and there's still a lot of work to be done in this country. When you still have people shouting, "from the river to the sea", as we saw on the weekend with a range of different flags representing different organisations – some of which are linked to terrorists, or indeed are terrorist organisations, like the Hamas flag – we've got a big problem in this country. We don't want these ancient hatreds brought here and so both sides of politics, law enforcement, intelligence agencies and community leaders really have to step up and enforce that we have strict standards in this country.

GARY ADSHEAD: I'm talking to Andrew Hastie, who's the shadow Home Affairs spokesperson. Can I ask you a question that kind of links in to some way. We're talking about threat from Iran and trying to destabilise our way of life here in Australia. We've seen today two police officers shot dead, one injured by a person who has, to all reports, been recognising as a sovereign citizen. We have a problem within, Andrew, not just from people outside.

ANDREW HASTIE: You're absolutely right, Gary. We've seen neo-Nazis on the streets in Melbourne. We've seen people burning the Australian flag. We've seen the sovereign citizens up in Queensland who shot police officers, I think it was last year or the year before, and we've had this terrible shooting today. There are people on all spectrums who are undermining our social cohesion who don't respect the rule of law in this country, which is precious, it needs to be upheld. And so there's a lot of work to be done. Democracy is like a garden – it needs to be cultivated, it needs to be watered, and weeds need to be pulled, and that's the task that we all have together if we want this democracy too last.

GARY ADSHEAD: I wonder whether or not, for a time, that this notion of being a sovereign citizen and someone that believes that the law doesn't apply to you and all the conspiracies that go with it has been taken a little bit too light heartedly. With what happened in Queensland and then now, you know, this situation is very serious. And for police officers going anywhere near these people, there should be different rules of engagement.

ANDREW HASTIE: I've never not taken this seriously. I've received emails from people, a lot of MPs and Senators across the country would have also. These are people who are deep down the rabbit holes online. Some of them were radicalised during Covid. Some of them have very legitimate grievances – the way some of the state governments enforced their mandates – but there is never, ever any reason for violence in this country. And the growth of the sovereign citizen movement is problematic. And just like we have people who are sympathetic to terrorism, just like we have people on the left who are anarchists, if you will, we also have people on the far right that that also need to be watched closely. That's just the reality of the situation we find ourselves in.

GARY ADSHEAD: Andrew Hastie thanks for your time.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Gary.

[ENDS]