Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has offered to assist the Morrison government with negotiations over the Australian citizens detained in Iran.
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Ms Bishop, who travelled to the Iranian capital of Tehran in 2015, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age she was "available to support the government in its efforts to secure the release of the detained Australians, should the government make that request."
"I have a long-standing and constructive relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif and I met with President [Hassan] Rouhani during my visit to Tehran," she said in a statement from the United Kingdom.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne is lobbying for the release of two travel bloggers and a university lecturer who have been detained in an Iranian prison.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese backed Ms Bishop on Sunday, telling reporters in Sydney: "I'm sure that Julie Bishop would be prepared to play a constructive role if the Foreign Affairs officials believed that was possible."
"We should do all we can to assist these Australian citizens," Mr Albanese said, talking up Australia's relationship with Iran.
"The fact is that we, unlike a lot of countries, have a presence in Iran at the diplomatic level," he said.
"These issues are of real concern and I stand ready to work with the government in resolving [them] ... I stand prepared to back the government in doing whatever they can."
Mr Albanese said there was "no doubt that some of these issues are of course best dealt with quietly" and that he had "every faith in the Department of Foreign Affairs".
University of Melbourne Middle East politics specialist Kylie Moore-Gilbert was identified this weekend as the academic imprisoned in Iran in October 2018.
Dr Moore-Gilbert was sentenced to 10 years' jail and has received only limited consular visits since her arrest.
In a separate incident, Australian travel bloggers Mark Firkin and Jolie King were also detained by Iranian authorities.
They were pair arrested by security forces while flying a drone - something they often did in pursuit of the perfect photograph - allegedly at Jajrood, a military area near the capital of the Islamic republic.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed to Parliament this week that she had discussed the imprisonment of the three Australians with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
"I will maintain my practice of many years by keeping the contents of my discussions ... private," Senator Payne said, "but I will say that a central topic of our meetings has been the three Australians."
Comment has been sought from the minister about Ms Bishop's offer.
Since quitting politics before the May election, the former foreign minister has taken a new job at aid contractor Palladium, sparking a Senate inquiry into whether she and Christopher Pyne breached ministerial standards that say ministers must not lobby in their former portfolios.
- SMH/The Age
