EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Let’s go to Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Parliament House. Minister, thanks. Thank you for joining us.
PENNY WONG, FOREIGN MINISTER: Good to be with you.
REBELLATO: You must be pretty relieved that the first lot of Australians arrived last night.
FOREIGN MINISTER: I think we all are, and the scenes of people arriving home were really moving. I certainly was on the edge of my seat yesterday morning. We knew that the flight was due to take off but obviously could only do so if it was safe. And we were all waiting to see whether it departed, was able to depart and so I was really glad that it was. I was very moved, I'm sure as all Australians, to see people being able to get home now. Hopefully we see more Australians coming home soon.
REBELLATO: Can you give us the details of the next plan of flights that are due to depart? I think we've got one soon, but then we might have another one in the next couple of days.
FOREIGN MINISTER: So, there are three flights and I want to make sure I'm very careful about this because this could move very quickly if there is further military activity that makes it unsafe for people to fly, obviously these flights will not proceed. But there are currently three flights due to depart this morning from the UAE and obviously that would be a great relief to see more Australians being able to come home. This is a conflict zone and we're operating in an environment which is highly unpredictable. I think you reported before in your package that Iran has now struck, sought to strike Türkiye. So, this is now 11 countries that Iran is seeking to strike, that gives you some sense of how the conflict, unfortunately, is spreading.
REBELLATO: Those flights that are due to leave this morning, are they completely booked? Do we know how many Australians are on those flights?
FOREIGN MINISTER: I don't have that information as yet. Obviously, as I've been saying, the best way to get the numbers of Australians that we have in the Middle East, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, home quickly is for there to be commercial flights resuming. We have some 24,000 Australians in the UAE. That's why this consular crisis, this crisis is larger numbers than anything we've dealt with.
REBELLATO: Senator, can you give us a bit more detail about these crisis response teams that are on their way? Where will they be and exactly what will their role be?
FOREIGN MINISTER: This is us putting people into the region to help with the consular work. So, to help Australians on site, anybody who has challenges, people who have challenges, who are finding it tough and also need help to get onto the flights. And obviously there's a very big logistics task which is part of their job. Because we are deploying into a war zone. I'm not going to give you details of precisely where, but I can say we have six teams which are deploying into the region. There's obviously a great need. We have good people already in the region at the embassies, at the posts, but we need to put additional people on the ground and I'm very grateful to these staff for going.
REBELLATO: How do you prioritise getting people out? Who goes first?
FOREIGN MINISTER: Yes, look, that is a really good question. And with the numbers we have that is challenging at the moment. The primary way in which we'll seek to do that is obviously through registration. We have open registration on the Smartraveller portal to people in the UAE as well as in Israel and Iran. We are working through that registration at the moment. The airlines are primarily operating who is getting on the flights, but we are engaging with them but obviously where we want to get to is trying to prioritise what we describe as vulnerable passengers.
REBELLATO: And how many people, how many Australians have so far registered with that portal through DFAT?
FOREIGN MINISTER: Look, we're still working through that because thousands have registered, but we have to work through who is eligible. So, I'm not in a position to give you the number who are formally now registered as eligible.
REBELLATO: The Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney is in Australia at the moment. What sort of conversations will you be having with him about the war and what's going on and what could happen?
FOREIGN MINISTER: We are very concerned, as Canada is, about this conflict continuing to spread, about the impact on the region, the risk to countries in the region, many, many countries who have not been participants in the conflict. Mark Carney, Prime Minister Carney has spoken, as the Prime Minister has and as I have, about the importance of middle powers stepping up. We have to work together and you have seen Australia and Canada as well as the United Kingdom doing that in relation to matters in the Middle East and more broadly. And I think you will see more coordination between middle powers as we go forward.
REBELLATO: And have you had any specific conversations with anyone in the US administration about the war? Because Australia, as we know, is already caught up in this and could be greatly affected as this drags on.
FOREIGN MINISTER: We are communicating through official channels. Obviously, the US and Israel are the countries engaged in these strikes. I have been in contact with many countries in the region. There are, as I said, many non-participant countries who have now been drawn into this because Iran has directed attacks into these countries and that is causing great concern in the region.
REBELLATO: Foreign Minister Penny Wong, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it.
FOREIGN MINISTER: Good to be with you. Thanks very much.