IRGC Terror Exposes Albanese Government Weakness

Last week, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring that “strength is not measured by how many people you blow up.”
Today, that same government was forced to admit that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was responsible for the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and the arson attack on Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney, two clear acts of terrorism committed on Australian soil.

This is not just a foreign policy failure. It’s a domestic security disgrace.

Just days ago, Burke denied a visa to Israeli MP Simcha Rothman. Rothman’s supposed offence? Advocating for the elimination of a terrorist organisation. Burke justified the ban by saying, “Our government takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division.” If division is truly the concern, Burke should look closer to home. In his own electorate and across the country, IRGC sympathisers rally weekly, chanting slogans calling for the destruction of Israel and death to Jews. Some even celebrated the atrocities of October 7.

For over two years, the Coalition and Australia’s Jewish communities have called for the IRGC to be designated a terrorist organisation. Albanese, Wong, Burke, and Dreyfus ignored them. They had every opportunity to take bipartisan action and they refused.
The IRGC, a known state sponsor of terrorism, arms and controls proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, groups whose sole objective is to murder civilians and destabilise democracies. And yet, this government waited until bombs were thrown at synagogues before lifting a finger.

Under mounting pressure and with nowhere left to hide, the Albanese government finally announced its intention to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity. Prime Minister Albanese called the Iranian-directed attacks “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil.”

In response, the government expelled Iran’s ambassador, the first such expulsion since World War II.

It is the right move, but far too late.

And it must go further. When an ambassador is involved in terrorism, diplomatic immunity should be off the table. No sovereign state should tolerate foreign agents plotting violence on its territory, let alone cloaked in immunity.

Let’s be clear: the IRGC does not share Australian values. It chants “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” It funds genocidal organisations and spreads violent ideologies across the globe. In contrast, Israel shares Australia’s democratic values. So does the United States. But somehow, in the eyes of this government, it is Jewish voices that are treated with suspicion, while IRGC proxies are allowed to march freely.

ASIO Chief Mike Burgess warned repeatedly that a serious incident was coming. His warnings were ignored. The synagogue firebombing could have been a mass casualty event. Only luck, not leadership, prevented deaths. Let us be reminded that it took Albanese 4 days to visit the chars of the Synagogue. His tennis match in Perth was a bigger priority.

And still, week after week, extremist rhetoric and hate speech continue unchecked in our streets. Since October 7, Australia has witnessed a terrifying collapse in social unity. From chants of “Gas the Jews” on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, to rallies where Hamas and Hezbollah flags fly, and posters of Ayatollah Khamenei loom behind prominent public figures, including former Premier Bob Carr, Ed Husic, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Julian Assange, Mary Kostakidis, and Craig Foster.

Let us not forget: Senator Faruqi stood next to a sign depicting Jews being thrown in a rubbish bin.

With the IRGC now recognised as a terrorist organisation, the next step is obvious: ban its flags, slogans, and propaganda. Hate speech laws must be enforced, and public incitement must be prosecuted because we’ve already seen what follows when we turn a blind eye.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has spent months condemning Israel for defending itself from IRGC-backed terrorists, yet she has been unable or unwilling to stop the IRGC from operating right here at home. The IRGC has embedded itself in Australian universities, where Jewish students now face harassment, threats, and physical intimidation. The government’s silence is complicity. Shame on you Penny Wong. Over 10,000 kilometers away and you’re still condemning Israel.

Meanwhile, much of the radical Left obsesses over pronouns and postcolonial theory, while aligning themselves with a regime that would execute them for who they are. The same ideologues who decry “fascism” in the West have given safe harbour to one of the most violent, misogynistic, theocratic regimes in the world.

And yes, Hamas has praised Albanese. So has China. But strong leaders like Netanyahu see him for what he is: weak.

It is not too late for Albanese to change course. He can still act like a statesman. But will he? Or will he go to the United Nations next month and reward the IRGC by recognising a Palestinian state run by terrorists?

I’m not holding my breath.

This is no longer a debate between Left and Right. It’s a choice between right and wrong, strength and surrender, freedom and tyranny.

Australia cannot afford leaders who only act when cornered. The time for principled, courageous leadership is long overdue.