00:02It's not clear what exactly we're being asked for, just that we are being asked to help
00:07with the protection of those countries against missile and drone strikes.
00:13It's not clear also what country this has come from, one of the Persian Gulf states,
00:18so that could be the UAE, it could be Oman or Saudi Arabia.
00:23The Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, says that she is considering this request, that she
00:28will be as transparent as possible about what Australia's decision is.
00:33And overnight she has added that families of diplomats in the UAE should be coming home
00:40and reiterating that report that all Australians should not be travelling to Dubai.
00:45Now we've heard from the Shadow Foreign Minister, Ted O'Brien, this morning as well.
00:51He says it is ideal in these situations that a decision to send troops or technology
00:58would get bipartisan support and he suspects the coalition would support the government
01:04if it chose to send troops or technology.
01:08As far as I'm concerned, the United States and Israel have been doing the heavy lifting
01:12for the free world here.
01:14We have supported in a bipartisan fashion their strikes on Iran.
01:19Now that we see other countries in the Gulf under attack and a request has been made of the
01:25Australian government, then we'll await the briefing.
01:29But we'll be considering things in our national interest and I believe, given the United States
01:33and Israel have been doing the heavy lifting in everyone's national interest, anyone who
01:37believes in the free world, in freedom, I believe they have been doing the work.
01:42So we'll see what the government has to say.
01:44If it's in our national interest, I believe they'll have bipartisan support.
01:48Isabel, what's been the reaction to this request?
01:51Well, there has been some pushback from the Greens.
01:54They're calling this mission creep.
01:56They say that we started as a country supporting the US and Israel through a statement.
02:01Then there was the situation where there were two Australians on a submarine that bombed
02:06an Iranian vessel.
02:07Now the Greens say we're actively considering whether or not to deploy some sort of support
02:13to the Gulf states.
02:14The Greens say that we should be instead protecting our own citizens and not getting directly involved.
02:20But when she's been asked about it, the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, has said that we are
02:25not going to be taking part in any offensive attacks on Iran and that we would not be sending
02:31troops to the Middle East.
02:33Are you that he's not going to get to the Middle East?
02:33...
02:34...
02:36...
02:37...
02:38You
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