Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

This is one of the few times I will take an interjection from Senator Shoebridge—that's the great moderate hopeful channelling Peter Dutton now. Senator Sharma, you know, because you are smart enough, that your question is incorrect—that what you are asserting there is untrue. But I will leave aside the political untruth in relation to the Syrian cohort. What I will go to, which I hope matters, is what we are doing for Australians in the Middle East. As I have been very clear with the Senate and the public about, yes, the numbers are larger than any consular crisis that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including when you were working there, have ever dealt with. We have 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, and 11,000 Australians transit through Qatar and the United Arab Emirates every day. It is a major hub for Australians to go, from other parts of the world, to and from Australia. Staff in consulates, in embassies and at the crisis centre are working around the clock and we will do everything we can. What I have said is that, obviously, we're looking at whatever arrangements we can make, bearing in mind that, given the numbers, the best way of ensuring people can get home safe and quickly is for flights to resume. But, as I have also been upfront in saying, currently the situation in the Middle East is risky and unpredictable. Nine countries were hit in one day, and we know we have seen the hubs hit. That is the reality of the situation that the government is dealing with. I feel for Australians overseas— (Time expired)