Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Good morning. Thanks for being here. Yesterday, Australia took the unprecedented action of expelling an ambassador. We did that because Iran crossed a line. It is unacceptable for a foreign regime to orchestrate or engage in violent acts on Australian soil. We wanted to send a clear message. That clear message has been sent. Happy to take questions.
Journalist: What's your reaction to Iran saying that the Prime Minister's weak following this move?
Foreign Minister: We act in Australia's interests, we look to Australia's national interests. That was the basis of the decision yesterday.
Journalist: How many more attacks do you think Iran could be behind? Is it a small number, a handful or more?
Foreign Minister: The Director-General of ASIO was asked this question yesterday. We obviously will leave the law enforcement and security agencies to do their work. I think he said it is not the only action that they believe. There may be links to Iran, but there are also actions, antisemitic activities which have no link to Iran. So, obviously we've taken very clear action. We should also be very clear antisemitism is unacceptable and we will stand against it.
Journalist: Have you spoken to the ambassador again since the announcement yesterday? Has that –
Foreign Minister: The Iranian ambassador or our ambassador?
Journalist: The Iranian.
Foreign Minister: No, I have not.
Journalist: Have they left the country yet?
Foreign Minister: That is a matter for them. They have a time frame in which they have to leave.
Journalist: Is that 48 hours?
Foreign Minister: Sorry you've had –
Journalist: How many Australians remain in Iran and did they receive any warning before this action was taken?
Foreign Minister: I would make the point that the travel advice has been do not travel for some time, for a number of years now. We remain very clear in our advice, do not travel to Iran and if you are there, please come home. The travel advice was changed around the time of our announcement to advise Australians that the embassy was closed. That obviously changes the nature of any assistance we can provide on ground. We do not have any Australian personnel left in Iran to provide assistance. My advice to Iranian Australians who are in Iran is to come home.
Journalist: How many Australians are detained? Detained in Iran.
Foreign Minister: I don't talk about those matters publicly. I can tell you we don't track the number of Australians in another country. You don't have to tell us every time you go, but we think there's between two and four thousand Australians still in Iran.
Journalist: Minister, on the allegations against the IRGC, obviously mindful these are active investigations, there are people in courts and things like that. But the trove of evidence that ASIO, that the government has relied on to actually make this quite serious allegation –
Foreign Minister: I'm probably going to suggest I'm not going to answer this question.
Journalist: Speaking in very broad terms of what it – is it financial records, is it details of transactions between certain people? This is quite a serious allegation against the government.
Foreign Minister: We have confidence in ASIO's assessments. We have confidence in our security agencies and we have acted on that, on their assessments. And I refer you to the answers from the Director-General yesterday.
Journalist: Is there any indication why Australia was targeted by Iran in this way? Why not another country?
Foreign Minister: The IRCG has engaged in foreign interference around the world. What is different about this, and I think the DG went to this yesterday, is this is orchestration of a violent attack. Obviously, we will continue to investigate these sorts of issues, the reasons behind, as well as the other lines of inquiry. But I would make this point – this is unacceptable. We have diplomatic relations with countries with whom we don't agree. We do that for our interests. But to have a foreign country organise violent action on Australian soil. That crosses the line and that's why we've acted.
Journalist: Senator, is there any evidence that Iran is, beyond these sort of specific attacks, sort of fomenting broader social unrest, fueling protests or behind any of the sort of bigger demonstration?
Foreign Minister: One of the responses the government has had to the rise in antisemitism has been to ensure that there is clear AFP and Security Agency work on those sorts of issues. But what I would say more broadly, we all have a responsibility to assure the safety of all Australians. We all have a responsibility to ensure that we remain the country that we are. We are a country that has welcomed people of all races and all religions, of all views, and we have been able to do that by maintaining our cohesion as a community. We must all work to make sure every Australian can not only feel safe, but also be safe.
Journalist: Could you just explain from a diplomatic perspective, like Iran has long been effectively a terrorist state and sponsoring Hezbollah, the Houthis. Hezbollah has been around since 1982. And Hamas, obviously, for a long time. When was the tipping point reached?
Foreign Minister: You're right. Iran has behaved in many ways around the world. Its actions have been reprehensible. But we have chosen to, as a country under successive governments since 1968, to maintain our diplomatic relationship. And we do that for our interests, not for Iranian interests. For us, the line was crossed when action was taken, orchestrated in this country against Australians. We cannot countenance that and that's why the ambassador has been expelled.
Journalist: Over the better part of the past decade, bodies like the RAND Corporation and the [indistinct] Centre have reported on involvement in China and Iran and the Koreans and others in disinformation online. Has there been any evidence that over the past couple of years, since October 7, that there's been disinformation campaigns from the Iranian sources?
Foreign Minister: I think we should assume that other regimes seek to influence our democracy in many ways, including through misinformation and disinformation. I think we're all adults and we all look at what's happening on social media and through other channels, and we all know that, which is why, whether it's media, government, or all of us, we have to work to make sure we hold on to our democracy and make sure it is resilient. And that is in part why the government has done this.
Journalist: The government has faced criticism for the antisemitism attacks that we've seen over the last couple of years. Does this change or should this change our perspective on that? What do you say to those who have been critical of the government that are allowing antisemitism to flourish?
Foreign Minister: I think that when confronting hatred, it is much better for us to point the finger less and bring each other closer more. And we don't confront hatred by allocating blame. We confront hatred by reminding ourselves who we are, what sort of community we are, what sort of country we are, and holding on to that. Thank you very much. Actually, can I just do one more thing, which is to express publicly my personal sympathy for the families and friends of the two officers who were killed in regional Victoria. To say we are all hoping for the recovery of the third officer, and to say something about our police force. I was with the AFP Commissioner yesterday when that news arrived, and I know how deeply police officers across the country have been affected by it. We thank you for your courage and we thank you for your service.