Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I want to make it very clear that the Australian government respects the legitimacy of the Egyptian government and its legal system, but we are shocked and dismayed by the Greste decision. We understand and support the Egyptian government's crackdown on extremist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, but we fail to see how this is helped by a very harsh sentence that has been directed to people who were reporting on the brotherhood, not supporting it.

Some weeks ago, I spoke to the Acting President of Egypt, Mr Mansour. Over the weekend I spoke to the newly elected President of Egypt, President al-Sisi. I want to assure the House that the Australian government will continue to make intercessions at every level with the Egyptian government and elsewhere to try to ensure that Peter Greste and his colleagues are swiftly released.

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