“My message to anyone involved in such activities is this:Australia’s laws and foreign interference are unequivocal,” Wong said.
“Allegations of foreign interference are investigated,and we will prosecute if appropriate. We will defend our democracy and people’s right to protest and express their views within Australia just as we stand up for the rights of those to do so and elsewhere.”
Iranians protest after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran.Credit:AP
Protesters in Australia say regime supporters have sought to punish them by slashing their tyres,sending abusive letters and threatening family members in Iran with jail.
Wong said the Department of Home Affairs had launched a targeted engagement with the Iranian- Australian community to identify anyone harassing anti-regime protesters.
Concerns about foreign interference were raised with Iran’s charge d’affaires on Tuesday “in no uncertain terms”,she said.
This was the fourth time in recent months the government had summoned Iranian representatives in Canberra to condemn the regime’s behaviour.
Wong told Parliament the Iranian government had become increasingly brutal over recent days,using machine guns,drones and missiles to attack protesters in Iran.
The death toll now runs well into the hundreds,she said.
The Iranian government last week said it had summoned Australia’s ambassador Lyndall Sachs after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke out on human rights concerns.
The government has come under increasing pressure,including from Iranian Australians,to take a tougher line on Tehran by introducing sanctions on Iranian companies and officials.
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“Australia is a long way behind like-minded countries and comparable nations when it comes to actions in relation to Iran,” opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said on the weekend.
“Many have expressly said they don’t want sanctions that could hurt the Iranian people in terms of economic sanctions,but they do believe that there are many cases for targeted individual sanctions to be applied,as we’ve done in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Wong said no one should doubt the “government’s resolve to continue working with others to build pressure on the regime to cease its brutal campaign against its own citizens”.