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

In my press conference in Geelong on Thursday I went specifically to this point—that Israel has the right to defend itself against Iran's attacks. This is the problem with the political attacks of the opposition on this. They don't actually look at what we have said because they are not interested in what we have said. What they are interested in is creating political division.

But I would also make this point. The opposition seems to be of the view that the position we've articulated is somehow different to those of our principal allies. I'll quote from the G7's statement on 3 October:

A dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks fuelling uncontrollable escalation in the Middle East … Therefore, we call on all regional players to act responsibly and with restraint.

That same G7 statement also called for de-escalation in Lebanon. (Time expired)