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October 28, 2026
TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW
NEWS24 SHARRI WITH SHARRI MARKSON
Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Topics: Palestinian recognition conditions fail, Wong admits misleading UN, Iranian targeting of Australian journalists and public figures
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………
SHARRI MARKSON: And joining me to discuss now is Shadow Minister for Defence, James Paterson. And James, I mean, can I start by saying I was beyond impressed at your questioning. It was among the best I've seen, and it was gripping viewing. And I recommend actually everyone watch the whole Senate Estimates, because it's a stunning insight really into how Penny Wong and her officials think.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well, thank you very much, Sharri. I did think that one year after the Albanese Government had announced recognition of a Palestinian state and had attached conditions to that recognition, that it was reasonable to get an update to see how those preconditions were going. Whether those five areas of governance, pay for slay, education, elections and demilitarisation had been implemented. And you won't be surprised, and I certainly wasn't surprised, to hear that there'd been very little progress against any of those objectives. Particularly given Mahmoud Abbas has yet again delayed elections in the Palestinian Authority. Now 21 years into his first four-year term and looking like he's going to make that a very, very long four-year term. But what I was hoping there would be was at least some reflection on the part of the government that the modest leverage that we might have once had over the Palestinian Authority, they gave away when they recognised Palestine. Why on earth would the Palestinian Authority do anything now that we've already given them what they want, which is recognition? And so, the key question for the government is, will they cancel this recognition? Will they reverse this recognition? Is there anything the Palestinian Authority can do that would make them revisit this decision? And the answer from the Foreign Minister was no. No matter what the progress is. No matter whether there are elections or not. No matter whether they continue to pay terrorists. No matter they continue to radicalise children in schools to hate Jews. No matter, what they do, the Albanese Government will always recognise Palestinian statehood and I think that's shameful.
MARKSON: Yeah, I think that admission you extracted from her was very insightful. These weren't preconditions at all. They were not prerequisites. They're irrelevant. Just on the 15,000 figure that I spoke about at the start there. Do you think it's appropriate for Australia's foreign minister to spread misinformation in order to attack Israel? And, you know, she said she corrected the record, but there's no evidence she or her office actually had.
PATERSON: Politicians are human and they can make mistakes, although a foreign minister delivering a speech at the United Nations, you would certainly hope, was carefully fact-checked before she spoke. But when you do make a mistake, it's important to own up to it. To take responsibility and to correct the record as promptly and as prominently as you can. But if you look up the Foreign Minister's speech on the DFAT website today, it still includes her false claim that 15,000 Palestinian children were displaced in a six-month period in the West Bank due to the actions of Israeli settlers. Now, it was pointed out very quickly by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and questions were asked by journalists, yourself included, very quickly, whether this was accurate or not. And the Foreign Minister has made no public statement. Has made no communication with the Government of Israel. Has not even updated the speech on her website to reflect the fact that she misspoke, that she was in error. And all we are told is that maybe, possibly, to some journalists on background they made some acknowledgement of their error. But as you've pointed out, it's not transparent, it is not public and we should expect better from a foreign minister.
MARKSON: Yep, exactly. Just on another topic, the ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has confirmed that two Australians were targeted by Iran in cyber intelligence operations this year. Of course, I was one of them. How concerned are you that the IRGC is targeting Australians on Australian soil?
PATERSON: I'm deeply disturbed by this Sharri and it is why for years I have campaigned, along with many of my other Coalition colleagues, for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be listed as a terrorist organisation. For the Iranian ambassador to be expelled and for us to significantly toughen our approach to Iran, including sanctions on the Islamic Republic regime. Sadly, I'm not surprised that someone prominent and courageous like you, and my friend and political commentator Michael Kroger have been targeted in this way. And since your story broke, someone else has come forward to contact me to say they recognised what happened to you and they believed it's happened to them. Now I won't reveal their identity, it's their choice to do so but they're now in touch with our agencies to determine whether they are a third victim of these kinds of attacks. It just shows how malign this regime is, which is why I asked Penny Wong in Senate Estimates today whether she was willing to close the Iranian Embassy, which remains open in Australia and which is a source of fear for the Iranian Australian diaspora as well. And she refused to say whether or not the government would contemplate closing the embassy. The question for the government is, how bad does it need to get? We already knew that they were responsible for terror attacks on our soil. We now know they're targeting journalists and political commentators with cyber-attacks. What else do they need to do before we decide that they shouldn't be allowed to operate an embassy in Canberra?
MARKSON: Yes, exactly. We've actually got some of her comments on this, so let's have a look at them.
CLIP
PATERSON: ... You would be willing, on advice, to close the Iranian Embassy if necessary?
SENATOR PENNY WONG I'm not going to speculate on advice from security agencies.
PATERSON: Well, I'm not asking you to speculate on what their advice might be. I'm asking you to tell me what the government's thinking is. I apologise for interrupting you before, but you're interrupting me now. I want to ask my question.
WONG: No, well I hadn't finished my answer ... So we would make any decisions that we thought and were advised were necessary to protect the security of Australians as we have done.
END CLIP
MARKSON: So it did sound there and she said that a few times, you know, the focus on the safety of Australians. So, it does sound like this might be something they're considering, James?
PATERSON: I certainly hope so, Sharri, because when we first called on them to ban the IRGC and we first called on them to expel the Ambassador, they said they couldn't do that and they wouldn't do that. And subsequently, under pressure, they were forced to do so. So I hope they relent on this too. But the reason the Foreign Minister advanced why this embassy remains open is so that people who need it have access to documents from the Iranian Government and visas. Now that doesn't seem like a good enough reason to me to keep open the embassy of the largest state sponsor of terror in the world which has targeted Australians and it is only luck that it didn't end up killing Australians. This is a malignant regime. Our embassy in Tehran is closed. Why should their embassy in Canberra be open?
MARKSON: Yes, good point. James Paterson, and again, I mean, it's so important that the government is held to account on critical issues like this. So, you know, and Penny Wong won't come on this programme, certainly not.
PATERSON: Shock horror.
MARKSON: So, it's, it is, you know, it was really good to see that you were asking the tough questions and giving her a tough time today. Thank you for being here.
PATERSON: Thanks, Sharri.
ENDS