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

Thank you, Senator Smith. I may just update the Senate first on Secretary Blinken's statement this morning that the US and Israel are developing a plan to enable humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza, including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm's way. We support these efforts.

As Senator Smith indicated, we have seen the Pacific family working together in this crisis. Prime Minister Rabuka and I met today, as he is here on this guest of government visit. I thanked him personally for Fiji flying 13 Australians from Israel earlier this week. I indicate to the Senate that the Australian government has now flown 96 people from Pacific island nations on assisted departure flights from Tel Aviv overnight. This brings the total number to 135 citizens from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa. This is what family can do together.