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

What I have made clear publicly when I have been asked that is that we are engaged in collective self-defence. The reason we are doing that is that we know that the gulf countries have been the subject of attacks from Iran. They are countries that have not participated in strikes against Iran, but have themselves been attacked with a barrage of missiles and drones, including civilian targets, civilian infrastructure and areas where Australians are present. From the government's perspective, our obligation, our first priority, is to do all we can to keep people safe. That is why we announced that deployment yesterday. The purpose of that deployment is to help the UAE and other gulf nations defend themselves and, in doing so, also help the Australians who are resident—