Australia is sending crisis consular support teams to the Middle East to assist the thousands of travellers and expats stranded in the region, as Foreign Minister Penny Wong conceded the war sparked by US and Israeli bombings of Iran was “spreading and intensifying”. The federal government is struggling to assist some of the 115,000 Australians in the region, including as many as 24,000 in the United Arab Emirates, despite some commercial flights to Australia resuming on Wednesday.
Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed news that about 200 Australians were on the first flight back to Sydney on Wednesday. “We are conscious of how distressed many people are,” Wong said. “I want to assure you that we will continue to do all that we can to get Australians home and to keep Australians safe.” Wong said six Department of Foreign Affairs crisis support teams were being immediately deployed to the region, but did not reveal their destinations or methods of travel, citing security risks.
Wong confirmed that Australian diplomats posted near the United States consulate in Dubai were all safe and accounted for, after a drone incident in a carpark caused a fire overnight Australian time. The Australian mission is close to the site, but no one was injured. When asked about the legality of the strikes on Iran, Wong again said it was “a matter for Israel and the US”.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, on his first full day of a visit to Australia, said his support for the attacks came amid a “failure of the international order” and were “not a blank cheque” for the US president and Israel’s prime minister. “We took a position because we view the nuclear threat and the export of terrorism of Iran over decades as one of the gravest threats to international peace and security,” Carney said in Sydney on Wednesday.
The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, urged fuel retailers not to do the wrong thing by customers by hiking prices unnecessarily due to the crisis. Motoring group NRMA said retailers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne had already used the war to “jack up margins”, pointing to data showing prices of nearly $2.20 a litre for regular unleaded. “This must stop immediately,” spokesperson Peter Khoury said. “Australians are doing it tough with cost-of-living pressures and now is not the time to be ripping the community off.”
Chalmers this week asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor for price gouging amid a jump in global oil prices, as long lines emerged at some petrol stations. Oil prices have jumped nearly 15% so far this week, approaching $US83 a barrel based on the international Brent crude benchmark.
