Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for her question. Late last night, the first flight in recent days arrived in Sydney from Dubai. That was a good thing. I'm sure the Australians who were able to touch down on their home soil felt very relieved to be home. I confirm that, right now, another flight, EK414, is in the air with over 200 Australians on board. It departed Dubai at 9.16 am today, Canberra time, bound for Sydney. We are hopeful of more flights being in the air today, which is what we want to see. The most recent advice is that another two flights are scheduled to depart to Australia today.

We know that there are many Australians who are waiting for an opportunity to get home. The Australian government, the UAE and airlines in the gulf states are working hard to secure more flights to get Australians home as soon as possible. Commercial flights remain the quickest way for Australians impacted by the conflict to get home. The situation in the region remains volatile, as we know. It's dangerous and it's fast moving.

Ten countries are now under attack by the Iranian regime. I, again, reiterate the Australian government's call for Iran to cease all attacks. The government's first priority is keeping Australians safe. We are working with our agencies and our partners to get help to Australians who need it. Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are working around the clock and engaging surge consular capacity. The government is deploying six crisis response teams to the region, and we've already deployed military assets as part of our contingency planning earlier this week.

I thank those Australians who are going into a dangerous situation in order to help their fellow Australians caught up in this conflict. We want to see Australians get home safely. 'Do not travel' advice remains in place, and DFAT has activated the crisis centre to provide consular support to Australians who are impacted. We'll continue to monitor the situation. We're having all of the appropriate meetings on a daily basis. We'll continue to act, where it's safe to do so, to support Australians in every way that we can.

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