Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of the response to this order for the production of documents. I would like to commend Senator Chandler on her great advocacy in this matter. I note that it is greatly appreciated by the Australian Iranian diaspora in my home of Queensland. I thank you so much, Senator Chandler, for everything you are doing in this space. On Saturday evening, I attended an event of the Kurdish Society of Queensland as they celebrated their new year, the beginning of spring—the Newroz celebration. So many members of that Kurdish community in Queensland come originally from Iran, where they suffered persecution. This is a matter of great significance to the Iranian diaspora here in Australia given what has been happening in Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps should be declared a terrorist organisation because it is a terrorist organisation. All the objective evidence is to that effect. They operate as a terrorist organisation outside of Iran, supporting other terrorist organisations. There is no doubt in my mind that they should be deemed to be a terrorist organisation. As Senator Chandler said, if there is some sort of legislative impediment then the government should work with the opposition to address that legislative impediment. I'm sure members of the crossbench would also be open to addressing that impediment, given the horrific things that we are seeing in Iran and elsewhere that are intimately involved with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

But the first step is transparency. There is no legitimate reason provided by the minister as to why these documents should not be produced—absolutely no legitimate reason whatsoever. The government needs to consider this point. I'm sure Senator Chandler will keep prosecuting the case, as she has been ably doing thus far. In doing this, Senator Chandler will have the support of senators such as me and all of us in this place who are close to our wonderful Iranian diaspora and who want to see justice done in this case, which equates to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps being declared to be a terrorist organisation.