Transcript - Sky News with Kieran Gilbert - 26 August 2025

Melissa McIntosh MP
Shadow Minister for Communications
Shadow Minister for Women
Federal Member for Lindsay

26 August 2025

Transcript - Sky News with Kieran Gilbert

Topics: Iranian Ambassador expulsion; antisemitism.

Kieran Gilbert

 Welcome back to the program. Let's bring in the Shadow Communications Minister, Melissa McIntosh. Thanks for your time. Big news today on the national security front, we heard the Prime Minister, along with other senior figures in the government confirming the expulsion of the Iranian Ambassador. You'd welcome that.

Melissa McIntosh

Of course we're very much behind the government on this, but like the rest of Australia, we are finding out about it now. And I think about how Australians, everyday Australians, will be feeling right now to know that a foreign country has been able to have such influence in our nation and conduct such terrible antisemitic attacks. And as the Prime Minister rightly said, you know, attacks on our social cohesion is an attack on every Australian. An attack on our Jewish community is an attack on every Australian. So right now we stand behind the government in acting swiftly. I know that there'll be a statement put out from the Coalition soon, and I understand that the Shadow Foreign Minister and Shadow Home Affairs Ministers are both getting briefings.

Kieran Gilbert

Okay. And the Prime Minister made those remarks earlier in the piece. And I had Andrew Wallace, your colleague on, who's the deputy chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security. He says that you've, the Coalition, members of the coalition, have been calling for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be listed as a terrorist group for more than two years.

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah.

Kieran Gilbert

And he said this move is a belated one now too to do that. But regardless, I guess if you, if we, put that to one side, the ASIO efforts in this regard in finding and working out who is responsible in this process, they've done outstanding work.

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, I think Andrew is right. The Coalition has been calling on this for a number of years. Julian Leeser, who is our Shadow Attorney-General, and a member of the Jewish community. The Jewish community has been feeling very unsafe with what has been going on. But as the ASIO director said, this is a, it's a layered attack on our Jewish community on - it is antisemitism in a layered approach. So it has taken time for them to be able to act and to act strongly on behalf of all Australians. That's what Australians expect. I think every single right-minded Australian would be (discontinued).

Kieran Gilbert

But it would rattle?

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, they'd be rattled, they'd be, there'd be aghast that this is happening, in our country. But it just shows how serious these issues are and how important it is that we, you know, we follow the advice of the, of the ASIO Director general, and we work collaboratively with the government when we can on such an important issue as Australia's safety.

Kieran Gilbert

Indeed. Melissa McIntosh, thank you for that. I appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon.