Matt Shirvington, Host: Let's bring in Foreign Minister Penny Wong live in Canberra. The PM is calling for clarity here, it sounds like the White House isn't talking to us anymore, is that right? Are our calls being answered?
Penny WongG, Foreign Minister: We still engage with the United States. The Prime Minister was simply making a very important point, which is there is a very substantial economic cost to this war and we welcome the indication from President Trump that he wants to engage in dialogue and we know that this war is having consequences for Australians across our country and particularly at the bowser.
Shirvington::The world seems to be guessing what Donald Trump is going to do next and hard-working Aussies are paying the price right now in so many facets of our day-to-day life, do you personally think Donald Trump has a plan here to end this war?
Foreign Minister: Secretary Rubio overnight spoke about the US military objectives and they were the same as that which they announced at the beginning of this conflict, which was the Iranian navy, the Iranian air force, to reduce missile launches, to reduce their capacity to produce missiles - and that does go to degrading Iran's capacity to disrupt international peace and security. But this war has gone on a long time. Ultimately, the only people who know when it will end is the US, Iran and Israel, but obviously we do welcome the indication from the President that he wants to engage in dialogue. This war is having an enormous effect on global energy markets and that means an effect on Australia.
Shirvington: Does that concern you – it feels like we were kind of late to the party when we found out that this was happening in the first place, it shocked the world, it seems. Does it worry you that we don't know that it's going to end or when it's going to end or how it's going to end or how it's going to impact us? I mean, these are our staunch allies, right, the US?
Foreign Minister: We're not taking action against Iran and we are not playing an offensive role in this war, what we are doing, the contribution we are making is defensive, and that's because Iran has chosen to attack so many other countries, including countries where we have a lot of Australians. So, we have assisted with some defensive capability but the parties to this conflict that are the ones who can help determine when it ends are the US, Israel and Iran.
Shirvington:Super quick, Minister, many countries in Asia are turning to Russia for oil. Will Australia buy Russian oil?
Foreign Minister: We maintain our sanctions on Russian oil and that's because we don't want to fuel Mr Putin's war machine.
Shirvington::OK, thank you. Thanks for your time.
Foreign Minister: Good to speak with you.