Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australian ‘military assets’ have been sent to the Middle East.
Albanese said the weapons were sent as part of the response to thousands of Australians being stranded in the region amid the ongoing war.
The Prime Minister made the comment during Question Time on Thursday while addressing a second flight from Dubai which is due to land in Sydney.
‘I confirm right now another flight, EK414 is in the air with over 200 Australians on board,’ he said.
‘It departed Dubai at 9.16am today Canberra time, bound for Sydney and we are hopeful of more flights in the air today which is what we want to see,’ he said.
‘The most recent advice is another two flights are scheduled to depart to Australia today.’
Albanese described the situation in the Middle East as ‘volatile’, ‘dangerous’ and ‘fast moving’ and acknowledged there is still thousands of Australians trying to get home.
After discussing the flight, the PM added there were six Australian crisis teams deployed to the region as well as ‘military assets as part of our contingency planning earlier this week’.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australian military assets had been sent to the Middle East (pictured left to right: Defence Minister Richard Marles, Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke)
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has not addressed the deployment of the ‘assets’ and it remains unclear what those assets are.
New Zealand on Thursday similarly said it would send two defence planes alongside consular staff to help its citizens get back home.
More to come…
