Family First NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton has called for ASIO to investigate Liverpool City Council after a council-owned facility was reportedly used to host a memorial for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the architect of a regime responsible for mass murder at home and sponsoring terrorism abroad through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Mr Shelton said the use of a council venue to mourn the head of the terrorist-designated IRGC raised serious national security and social cohesion concerns.
“Liverpool City Council should be investigated by ASIO to determine how a public facility came to be used for an event mourning the head of one of the world’s most violent regimes. The people who attended the vigil at the council facility should be placed on the ASIO watch list,” Mr Shelton said.
“The Iranian regime under Khamenei hanged gays, treated women with brutality and machine-gunned tens of thousands of protestors in the streets. Allowing council venues to be used to venerate such a figure is an affront to the victims of that regime and to the many Iranian Australians who fled it.”
Mr Shelton said the response of Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun, who defended the memorial being held in a council-owned building, was deeply troubling.
“It is alarming that Liverpool Mayor, a member of the Liberal Party of Australia, has defended the use of council facilities for a memorial to Khamenei,” Mr Shelton said.
“The Liberal Party should immediately distance itself from these remarks and consider whether Mr Mannoun should remain a member if he is prepared to defend the eulogising of a tyrant responsible for terrorism and mass murder.”
Mr Shelton said Australia must be clear that glorifying such figures has no place in a peaceful democracy.
“Too many Muslim leaders in Australia appear willing to openly support or glorify figures linked to terrorist movements and violent regimes,” he said.
“Australia is a peaceful nation and we do not want the hatreds of the Middle East imported into our suburbs or fanned in our communities.”
Mr Shelton praised NSW Premier Chris Minns for condemning the memorial events despite the political risk of offending segments of the Muslim community.
“Chris Minns deserves credit for being willing to call this out even though it risks offending sections of the Muslim community who support these figures,” Mr Shelton said.
“That kind of leadership is necessary if Australia is to maintain social cohesion and stand firmly against the threat of Islamic terrorism, which is only too real after the Bondi massacre.”
Mr Shelton said Liverpool Council should now show the same courage.
“Liverpool Council should follow the Premier’s lead and make it clear that council facilities will never be used to glorify tyrants or terrorist leaders,” he said.
“Social cohesion in Australia depends on communities being united against Islamic terrorism. That is in the national interest.”
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