Australia news as it happened: PM reveals Iran behind two antisemitic attacks in Melbourne, Sydney; Australia Post temporarily suspends US deliveries

Good evening, and thank you for reading the national news blog.

We heard stunning revelations today that Iran directed at least two high-profile attacks on the Australian Jewish community. In Victoria, meanwhile, two police officers have been shot dead, and a third wounded at a rural property.

Here is a quick overview of what we have been covering:

• Iran’s ambassador to Australia has been expelled and the Australian embassy in Tehran shuttered following news Iran was responsible for plotting arson attacks against Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne last year.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the discovery following an investigation by Australia’s spy agency, and said the attacks were, “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil”.

• Melbourne tobacco wars kingpin Kazem Hamad is suspected of conspiring with foreign spies to carry out the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue.
• Vice-president of the attacked Melbourne synagogue, Benjamin Klein, said revelations his community was being actively targeted along with the wider Jewish community were “terribly distressing”.
• Jewish leaders more broadly said the government’s decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation was long overdue. Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said: “Today’s announcement proves what we have long warned; that Iran’s malign reach extends into Western democracies, including here in Australia.”
• The Albanese government and Coalition clashed during Question Time on issues including last week’s economic reform roundtable and the Coalition’s election policies, but Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said: “While we sit opposite the government in this chamber, we’re entirely united on the [Iran] measures announced today”.
• Australia Post suspended shipping most parcels to the United States days before President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariff changes hit low-value items that had been exempt.
• There have been tentative signs that employment pressures are easing, with minutes from the Reserve Bank’s most recent meeting suggesting another rate cut – which markets are tipping for November – is ahead.
• In Victoria, two police officers are dead and another has been wounded after a shooting at a rural property in Porepunkah, about 300 kilometres north-east of Melbourne. We will continue to bring you updates about that case this evening in our dedicated live blog here.
• In NSW, alleged double killer Beau Lamarre-Condon will fight allegations he murdered Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with his lawyer telling journalists “history will be the judge”.

Thanks again for joining us. This is Cassandra Morgan, signing off.

We heard from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier today that the Iranian government directed at least two attacks against Australia’s Jewish community: at the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, and Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney.

We are keeping track of live developments and political reactions into this evening, but here’s a summary of what you need to know:

• The Iranian ambassador to Australia is set to be expelled and Australia has closed its embassy in Tehran as a result of the revelations, which were announced by Albanese this afternoon. You can watch what he said below.

• ASIO has investigated dozens of other incidents over their potential links to the Iranian government. The spy agency’s director-general, Mike Burgess, said Tehran was probably linked to more attacks, and ASIO was open to the possibility more could happen in Australia.
• No Iranian diplomats were involved in the attacks, which were motivated by antisemitism and designed to “mess with social fabrics in Australia”, authorities said.
• The ASIO boss described Iranian involvement in Australia as a “layer cake of cutouts” between Iran and the perpetrators. “There is an organised crime element offshore in this. But that’s not to suggest organised crime are doing it,” Burgess said. “They’re just using cutouts, including people who are criminal and members of organised crime gangs, to do their bidding or direct their bidding in Australia.”
• Albanese said all Australian diplomats posted to Tehran were safely in third countries.
• Iranian officials will have seven days to leave Australia, and the government will change the criminal code to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
• The news has been discussed in question time this afternoon, which you can watch below, or follow the link to watch here.

Melbourne tobacco wars kingpin Kazem Hamad is suspected of conspiring with foreign spies to carry out the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue in a development that has seen Iranian diplomats expelled from Canberra.

As we’ve reported, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, alongside spy chief Mike Burgess, today called out Iran’s involvement in at least two antisemitic attacks in Australia, including the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue.

Police are probing Hamad’s suspected role in the firebombing of the synagogue and whether he, or members of his gang, were involved in the attack in order to curry favour with the Iranian regime.

Click here to read the exclusive report from Nick McKenzie and Paul Sakkal.

There has been movement at the Iranian embassy in Canberra, where staff had earlier retreated from the media.

Two cars have left in quick succession: a grey sedan with a male driver and passenger, and a black sedan with a driver and darkly tinted windows.

It is believed the Iranian ambassador, who along with his staff has been ordered to leave the country within seven days, remains inside the embassy.

Advocacy group Australian United Solidarity for Iran has urged the Albanese government to act swiftly to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

“We call on the Australian government to act without delay, and we offer our full support to ensure that the [Revolutionary Guard’s] networks of aggression are dismantled, and that Australians of all backgrounds are protected from foreign-sponsored threats,” the group said in a statement on X.

The group, which advocates for the human rights of Iranians to be upheld, said the ejection of the ambassador was a welcome first step.

“We … welcome and fully support the expulsion of Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador – long overdue after years of harassment of our community.”

The Iranian Women’s Association has welcomed the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador and the designation of the country’s Revolutionary Guard as a terror group — something the rights group has wanted for decades.

Spokesperson Nos Hosseini said she was not surprised the Iranian government was behind the attacks on Australia’s Jewish community, and that the regime was known to hire criminals to commit assassinations and acts of terror abroad.

“The announcement today is very welcome,” she said. “Diplomacy doesn’t work with the Iranian regime.”

Hosseini said the organisation had campaigned for the expulsion of the ambassador because the embassy was used to gather intelligence on the diaspora to inform harassment campaigns on their families in Iran – something she herself had been subjected to.

“The sole purpose of the embassy having a presence in Australia is just to surveil the community in Australia,” she said.

“We’re glad the government has finally recognised this [the expulsion] needs to happen. You can’t negotiate with the regime in Iran … I’m not at all surprised [the regime is suspected to be behind the attacks].”

Two officers are dead and another is wounded after a shooting at a rural property in Porepunkah, about 300 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

Police were at the property to execute a warrant over historical sex abuse allegations when the two officers were shot dead in an ambush and another was wounded this morning, three police sources, not authorised to speak on behalf of the force, said.

We are following developments in the case in a dedicated live blog, which you can read here.

The alleged Porepunkah shooter is on the run with several family members, including children, police sources have confirmed.