Topics: Iranian Ambassador expelled, IRGC terror listing

E&OE.......................

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STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Dave Sharma is the shadow assistant Minister for Competition Charities and treasurer and former ambassador to Israel, and joins us now. Dave, good morning.

DAVE SHARMA: Good morning, Stephen. Great to join you.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Now, as a former ambassador, this is an extraordinary move. In fact Australia hasn't expelled an ambassador since the Second World War. What does this actually mean, moving forward?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I think it's the ambassador and I think three staff from the Iranian embassy which have been ordered to leave. We've also removed our diplomatic staff from Tehran. We've got an embassy in Tehran. They've been moved to a third country, I understand, which is right and prudent in the circumstances. But, look, it's the strongest diplomatic move you can take, short of severing diplomatic relations, to expel another country's ambassador. I think it shows rightly the gravity with which we do this. I mean, this was a foreign state conducting attacks on Australian soil against Australian citizens in a way that was designed to undermine Australian values. I can't overstate the gravity or seriousness of that.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Now, you've been very critical of the government's decision to, well, it's earmarked that it's going to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General assembly next month. Do you think this is cause for the government to now wind that back?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, I think they should certainly be reconsidering their agenda. I mean, Anthony Albanese, I think, should be going to the UN next month and doing all that he can to marshal international opinion against Iran. Because you can bet that if the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, called the IRGC, has been doing these things in Australia, it has been doing or attempting to do similar things in its neighbours in the Middle East, in other Western democracies. And I think, Anthony Albanese, rather than focusing on recognising a Palestinian state, which will do nothing to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East, should be highlighting Iran's destabilising and aggressive behaviour, which is the cause of much of the strife in the Middle East.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Dave, I'm hearing that the government actually knew about this before yesterday. Do you think they should have moved earlier on this? And is this, you know, a little bit of too little, too late?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, the coalition, the Liberal Party, has been calling now for a couple of years at least, for, firstly, the listing of the IRGC, which is sort of the state sponsor of terrorism arm of the government of Iran, listing of the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, and the expulsion of the ambassador because of the way he sought to fan the flames of anti Semitism in Australia. So we think these moves are long overdue and they should have been done sooner. The evidence that has emerged overnight obviously only adds to that case.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: I've been highly critical of the lack of action by this government on the rise in anti Semitism since the October 7th attacks. Do you think this is going to calm things down a little bit, or is this likely to exacerbate things?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, it's my hope that some of the people who, not all of the people, I stress this, but some of the people who have been, you know, marching, protesting, but also engaging in antisemitism themselves, will now reflect on the company dictate, because as Mike Burgess said yesterday, IRGC was behind at least two of these attacks. One on a delicatessen in Sydney that I know well, another on the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne, but possibly more. And it's clear that at least some of the Australians who've been, you know, engaged in this debate and on the extreme end of this debate, have been used as, you know, fools, by the Iranian regime. And who would want to be associated with that?

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: Yeah, well, you would think that it was pretty obvious, but obviously not to some people. Dave, I know you're busy. I appreciate your time this morning.

DAVE SHARMA: Thanks so much for having me on.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: All the best. Senator Dave Sharma, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition Charities and Treasury, and former Ambassador to Israel.

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