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NEWSREADER: The Rudd Government's expulsion of an Israeli diplomat has been denounced by the Federal Opposition as a political stunt to buy Australia a UN seat. And joining us now live to discuss the diplomatic crisis is Australia's Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith.

Good morning, Minister. Thanks so much for your time this morning.

STEPHEN SMITH: Pleasure. Good morning.

NEWSREADER: Now, the Opposition claims this was all about buying favours with Arab and African nations for a UN seat. Was this taken into consideration at all, and what is your response to this criticism?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, absolutely not. Julie Bishop, the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Leader, was given a full briefing yesterday from the Australian Federal Police, from ASIO, from ASIS, and from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

And their advice to her was accurately reflected by me in the Parliament when I said that we regarded Israel as being responsible for the abuse of our passport system.

I find Ms Bishop's response quite extraordinary. She's turning a blind eye to the advice she received from our officials. She's showing she's not fit to protect our national security interests and would turn a blind eye to the Australian travelling public and the need for integrity in our passport system.

I can assure you that when the advisers in our national security agencies were speaking about this matter, they weren't talking about the United Nations or the Security Council. They were talking about the protection of our passport system and the need to protect our national security interests.

So I find her response, frankly, quite extraordinary. It shows she's not fit to sit round the National Security Committee table and be responsible for our national security interests.

NEWSREADER: Minister, many are saying this morning that this action has actually plunged relations with a very close ally to their lowest point in 60 years.

Firstly, what clear evidence do you have that Israel is solely to blame for this, and does this signal a major change with our Middle East relations?

STEPHEN SMITH: Firstly, it won't disturb the foreign policy framework that we have in respect of Israel and the Middle East. Australia has been a longstanding and consistent friend and supporter of Israel and that will continue.

As I said yesterday, these events may well see a cooling of the relationship, but we want to see the relationship grow again. We want to see trust and confidence restored to the relationship, and we hope Israel responds in that way.

But this was not the action of a friend. This was, on all of the advice we had, the deliberate abuse of our passport system. We acted after an exhaustive investigation by the Australian Federal Police, backed up by the Australian intelligence community, in particular ASIO.

We gave it very careful deliberation and came to the conclusion to send a signal that we would not stand idly by and see our passport system trampled upon, see our sovereignty shredded, see our national security interests trampled upon, that we had to respond, and we responded by asking the Israeli Embassy to remove one of its officials.

NEWSREADER: Mr Smith, one of your own MPs, the Parliament's own Jewish — only Jewish member, Michael Danby, points out that other countries caught up in this passport scandal, like Germany and Ireland, have taken no action.

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, that's not true. Michael is simply wrong on that. There are a range of countries whose passports were caught up. We've seen from Great Britain, after its own investigations, a comparable response to our own.

Ireland, France and Germany are currently conducting their own investigations.

What of course other countries do is a matter for them. We have not, for example, simply mirrored the United Kingdom. We've done our own investigation, given it our own careful thought and assessment.

But it's our job as a Government to protect and defend Australia's national security interests. We will not, as Mr Abbott and Ms Bishop would have us, we will not stand idly by and turn a blind eye to the shredding of the integrity of our passport system, to trampling of our sovereignty, and to the trampling of our national security interests. We will not do that. And that's why we have responded, on the basis of the advice from our officials, in the manner in which we have.

NEWSREADER: Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, thanks for your time this morning.

STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks, Natarsha. Thanks very much.

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