QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (15:23): One of the things that I think it might be useful to remind Senator Shoebridge and the Greens political party of is the actions of the Iranian regime, including the brutal massacring of its own people; the actions of the Iranian regime, including directing attacks on Australians here on Australian soil; the actions of the Iranian regime in sponsoring its proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah; and the actions of the Iranian regime in sponsoring terrorism around the world.
What we made very clear is our support for actions which were designed to prevent Iran from continuing to be a threat to peace and security internationally. I appreciate that you don't agree with that, Senator Shoebridge, but that is the basis of our position. We also made it very clear that we were not proposing to engage in strikes on Iran.
I know that's a fact that the Greens political party seek to gloss over— Senator Shoebridge: I have a point of order. My point of order is direct relevance. My question was simple, and the minister refuses to address it.
Do you still support the war? Direct relevance. The PRESIDENT: Senator Shoebridge, the minister is being relevant to your question.
I'll invite the minister to continue. Senator WONG: What we know is that you seek to generate— Senator Shoebridge: Answers. Senator WONG: No, your outrage machine, actually.
What you want is an outrage machine to campaign with. It doesn't suit you to talk about the thousands of people the regime has killed. It doesn't suit you to confirm that Australia has said we are only engaging in defensive action.
It doesn't suit you to remember that there are tens of thousands of Australians that we are defending as a consequence of the deployment of ADF personnel in the Middle East. You just want to yell at me because these are inconvenient facts. The PRESIDENT: Resume your seat, please, Minister Wong.
Senator Green? Senator Green: Interjections are disorderly. I cannot hear what the minister is saying.
The PRESIDENT: I have asked for order. I called you, Senator Shoebridge, and I called you, Senator Allman-Payne. I expect there to be silence.
Senator WONG: Senator Shoebridge doesn't like the answers because— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Shoebridge, first supplementary?