George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senior ministers made numerous representations to their counterpart ministers in the Egyptian government. Representations were made by the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and myself, as well as at ambassadorial level. Within minutes of hearing of the sentence, the Foreign Minister spoke to Mr Greste's parents and reassured them that the government would continue direct representations to the Egyptian government, its neighbours and our partners. The Foreign Minister spoke to our ambassador in Cairo last night to request that he arrange for an urgent call to the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Shoukry, with whom she had spoken as recently as last weekend. This morning the acting secretary of DFAT called in Egypt's acting ambassador to express the strong concerns of Australia about the verdict, and the acting ambassador gave an undertaking that those concerns would be conveyed to Cairo. Consular officials will continue to provide all appropriate consular assistance to Mr Greste, and support to his family.