Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has furiously rejected claims by a Labor MP that she has allowed Australia to cosy up to Iran.
Melbourne MP Michael Danby has erected a giant electronic billboard at St Kilda Junction, depicting the minister in a headscarf.
The billboard urges Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to veto Ms Bishop's attempts to woo Iran over the return of asylum seekers.
Mr Danby said Mr Turnbull needed to order Ms Bishop to reverse the "slide towards appeasement of the hardline, bellicose regimen in Tehran".
Ms Bishop told AAP on Sunday (New York time) Australia was not negotiating any deal with Iran.
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"The only matter I am discussing with Iran is the failure of the previous Labor government's border protection policies which led to an unprecedented number of Iranians seeking to come to Australia and are currently in detention centres," she said in New York.
"Michael Danby was a member of that government.
"He is completely misguided and I find his intervention nakedly political."
The foreign minister's Iran visit, intelligence sharing deal, negotiations on Iranian visas to Australia and the possibility of Iranian consulates in Sydney and Melbourne were evidence of the shift.
"Ms Bishop has to all intents and purposes signalled a new Australian policy vis-a-via Iran," he told AAP.
"This is a significant and far-reaching policy shift and must be accompanied by a parliamentary debate.
"Ms Bishop has engaged in ad hominem attacks and generally attempted to muddy the water by raising asylum seekers that arrived in Australia during the term of the last government."
