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

Senator Hume, I assume you are aware that there is a conflict in the Middle East, and I assume you are aware that that conflict is wider than has been anticipated. It's a conflict that has seen Iran attack some 12 countries in the Middle East. It has seen Iran attack hydrocarbon infrastructure in the Middle East and issue public threats over the Strait of Hormuz. We are confident in the fuel holdings that Australia has. I would make that point, despite the fearmongering by some opposite.

But what I would also say, Senator Hume, is that that question demonstrates the approach that your parties have taken for too many days in relation to this conflict, which is that, where the nation looks to bipartisanship, where the nation looks to there being less politics and more public interest and where the nation looks to the parties of government behaving as such, we see yet again those opposite for too long seeking to make politics out of this crisis. I would make this point. We saw Mr Taylor, the member for Hume, stand up, as I understand it, just before question time and belatedly giving some bipartisan support, and I welcome that—a little bit late, but that's okay. We welcome it because I actually think, and I think most Australians think, this might actually be a time to try and look to the national interest, and that is the invitation to the opposition. Why don't you try, just for once, to look at national interests rather than petty political interests? (Time expired)