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

TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE, MANDURAH

Sunday 22 June 2025

E&OE

ANDREW HASTIE: Just like to make a brief statement on behalf of the Opposition with regards to the United States strikes against nuclear facilities in Iran today. The Coalition supports military action taken by the United States to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, specifically, the strikes today taken against the facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and critically, Fordow.

It's very clear just 10 days ago that Iran was in breach of its non-proliferation treaty allegations with the stockpiling of 400kgs of 60% enriched uranium. The only explanation for that is that they were moving towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. They couldn't give the International Atomic Energy Agencies any guarantee, nor could the IAEA verify that this enrichment was being taken for peaceful purposes. And that's why I believe President Trump today has taken the decision to strike those three facilities. We could never accept a nuclear Iran.

Iran is a repressive theocratic autocracy, and it's a sponsor of terrorism as we've seen over the last few years. From October 7th, we've seen Iran support Hamas, we've seen Iran support Hezbollah, we've seen Iran support the Houthis. And we saw last year Iran conduct missile strikes in April and October against Israelis citizens in Israel.

This is a regime committed to the destruction of Israel and our allies, like the United States. It's also a highly oppressive regime which has persecuted women, dissidents, religious minorities and that is why we support the actions today, because we have no faith that the Iranian regime will negotiate in good faith.

The Coalition does not want war. We do not want war. But we believe this was a necessary action to take by the United States military. President Trump gave the offer of negotiations and over the last two days the Iranians have not taken up that offer.

So, the Coalition stands in solidarity with the Iranian people. We regret the loss of life in Iran and Israel, and we hope for a peaceful settlement going forward.

I’ll now take some questions.

JOURNALIST: The government stopped short of endorsing US air strikes. What do you make of their response there?

ANDREW HASTIE: Look, I think they've been far too ambiguous. The United States is a close ally. The United States has a key role in reestablishing order and peace in the Middle East. And Iran, by contrast, is a regime that sponsors terrorism, it sponsored Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. It's taken actions against Israel.

[INAUDIBLE INTERJECTING]

It’s a free country she’s allowed to say what she likes.

Nonetheless, our position is unchanged, and we do support the United States and the Albanese government should be supporting the United States as well.

ANDREW HASTIE: Any further questions?

JOURNALIST: Do you think there is enough evidence to justify these bombings?

ANDREW HASTIE: I think what we’ve seen, particularly through the International Atomic and Energy Agency is that Iran was in breach of it’s obligations on the nonproliferation treaty. We've seen 400kg of 60% enriched uranium stockpiled by Iran. Now the IAEA caps enrichment at 20% for military use, which is the sort of reactor you’d have in a submarine. Civil reactors are at 5%, so at 60% they were headed towards a nuclear weapon. And given that they sponsor terrorism and that the Supreme Leader of Iran himself has said he wants to wipe Israel off the map, I think it was the right call to make. 

JOURNALIST: You’ve spoken about the importance of diplomacy first, do you think the US [INAUDIBLE]…

ANDREW HASTIE: President Trump two days ago offered an olive branch, and the Iranian Foreign Minister went to Europe and committed to opposing —

[INAUDIBLE INTERJECTING]

I'm sorry it's a little difficult with this protester above me, but nonetheless, the bottom line today is that the Coalition supports the actions taken by the United States, we’re a strong ally of the US, and we also stand with Israel, who's presently under attack from missiles right now.

JOURNALIST: What role, if any, should Australia and the Australian government play?

ANDREW HASTIE: That's a decision for the government and I’d want to have intelligence briefings from the government before I made a comment on that.

JOURNALIST: You said on Insiders this morning that escalating the conflict could have unintended consequences. So now that the US has involved itself, do you have any concerns about this escalating further? 

ANDREW HASTIE: That's always a risk. War is the one area of public policy that you can't control, wars can really get out of control. And I think there's also a risk that if the Iranian regime falls, we'll see a mass movement of people out of Iran into places like Europe. So, there’ll be refugees. And then there is the question of who fills the vacuum if the regime collapses and we've seen what happened to Iraq with ISIS, we saw what happened in Afghanistan as well. So, these are very difficult and tricky times ahead. But the Coalition wants peace. We want a peaceful settlement, and I think we can hopefully move forward now that the three key facilities have been targeted, but then again, we have to wait for the battle damage assessment that will come out over coming days. I'll leave it there. Thank you very much.

[ENDS]