Cancel Iran Visit demands Julie Bishop
The Shadow Minister Foreign for Foreign Affairs and Trade Julie Bishop has issued a statement calling for the cancellation of an official government visit to Iran.
The statement reads:
Julie Bishop
The Prime Minister must immediately cancel the proposed visit to Iran by Australia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gary Quinlan and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Joanna Hewitt.
Australia currently imposes a comprehensive range of sanctions against Iran due to its ongoing pursuit of nuclear technology and its failure to comply with inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
These sanctions are part of an international effort to isolate Iran.
In addition to concerns about its nuclear program, Iran’s leaders continue to make bellicose statements with regard to Israel and the regime has been an active sponsor of terrorist organisations around the world.
Iranian officials will use any visit of senior officials to next week’s meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran to claim greater international legitimacy.
If the visit goes ahead it will be another example of the Labor Government compromising longstanding foreign policy principles in pursuit of votes for its campaign for a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council.
This campaign cannot justify any action that potentially undermines the international effort to convince Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions and its suspected drive to obtain nuclear weapons.
But a spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr told J-Wire: “Ms Bishops’ allegations are false. Australia is attending a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, as a guest.
We are not holding bilateral talks with Iran, and we did not choose the venue for the meeting.
Australian attendance at this meeting has nothing to do with the UN Security Council – we have been attending Non-Aligned Movement meetings as a guest for some years.
Australia is strongly committed to maintaining pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, as today’s sanctions decision shows.
The Australian Government also believes recent anti-Israel comments by some members of the Iranian leadership were disgraceful, and should be withdrawn.”
“… Carr’s call for both Israel and the Arabs to return to the negotiating table was despicable, considering that he knows full well that it is the Fatahland’s regime that is spurning its obligation to negotiate…”
a-BOB-each-way-CARR!
If it wasn’t sexist I would say that Julie Bishop is twice the man 😉
Julie Bishop – would make a good PM.
Julia Gillard will find she will lose her few remaining genuine friends if she pushes ahead with her sojourn to Iran.
Onya Julie. Well said!
Julie Bishop is absolutely correct in calling on the PM to cancel the visits to Iran of the PM Special Envoy an our Ambassador to the UN. But that is not enough. The PM has demonstrated a principled and friendly stance to Israel. To confirm that, she must also pull her Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade into line. Carr is continuing in Rudd’s footsteps in talking friendship toward Israel all the while cozying up to the OIC. Carr’s call for both Israel and the Arabs to return to the negotiating table was despicable, considering that he knows full well that it is the Fatahland’s regime that is spurning its obligation to negotiate. A temporary seat on the Security Council is not worth selling a fellow democracy and our principles. We should be following the example of Canada which refused to cave in to islamofascist regimes.
“Fatahland’s regime”
good one!