John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Forshaw for his question. I certainly can indicate that the Australian government is deeply concerned about events in Iran. Shortly after voting was completed on 12 June, Iran’s election commission announced the election of President Ahmadinejad. From the beginning, there have been real doubts about the election outcome. The two main challengers, Mr Mousavi and Mr Karoubi, have called for the election result to be cancelled.

Senators will have seen the violence perpetrated against protestors over the past week which has, of course, continued over the weekend. The government condemns the deaths—as I know every other senator in this place will—of at least 10 more protestors on Saturday and the injuries of many more, and we deplore reports that Iranian security forces have fired on demonstrators. The government calls on Iran to halt all violence against protestors, to ensure that all Iranians have the right to peaceful protest and to release those who have been detained for expressing their views. Of course, the government is also concerned that foreign journalists have been told to leave Iran. I think this is a further sign of Iran isolating itself.

The world’s eyes are on Iran and how Iran deals with the concerns of ordinary Iranians about the election result. Those concerns need to be addressed fairly and transparently —(Time expired)