Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: There are many Australians who are stuck in the Middle East as a consequence of travel being disrupted because of the airports and the flights being cancelled and of course this conflict spreading and widening. I am pleased that we are seeing some flights now starting to come back with a fourth flight about to land or has landed. I spoke to the UAE Foreign Minister earlier this week and he messaged me overnight saying that they expect four more flights to Australia in the next 24 hours, so that is a good thing. We know that people are very stressed – can I assure you we are working as hard as we can around the clock, including with the airlines and the governments to try and get people home as quickly as possible. Happy to take questions.
Journalist: We're seeing pictures of flights come home that are half-full. What's being done to make sure that people are actually getting on the flights?
Foreign Minister: That is really disappointing and I'm disappointed with that. So we are seeking to work even more closely with the airlines to try and coordinate that. We want every seat filled.
Journalist: Can we just move on to Australians on the US sub, please? You repeatedly said that Australia isn't involved in the war in Iran, how can that be the case when there are two soldiers on a US sub that sinks a warship?
Foreign Minister: As you know, I'm not in a position, the government's not in a position to comment on the whereabouts of personnel, ADF personnel, and that's a longstanding position.
Journalist: And why can't we reveal the extent of our involvement given the UK, other allies, are being quite open with how much help they're giving?
Foreign Minister: As I said, we've made clear our position in relation to this conflict. We are concerned that the conflict is intensifying and spreading. We now see some 12 countries have been brought into the conflict, have been the subject of strikes by Iran. This is a conflict that is intensifying and widening and we are concerned about that. I would also say this in relation to Lebanon, we've seen, again, increases in the conflict on the border of Lebanon and Israel. I would say to anyone in Lebanon, if you can leave safely, you should do so now. We also call on Hezbollah to cease its strikes. We do not want to see a ground invasion of Lebanon.
Journalist: What do you make of the Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich's comments which are talking about turning Beirut to Gaza?
Foreign Minister: Those comments are completely unacceptable, and I see that the Israeli ambassador has clarified that they are not the position of the government. Thank you