Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened a meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet almost 24 hours after the United States conducted strikes against Iran.
The meeting will take place around the government’s weekly cabinet meeting, which was also scheduled for Monday.
Mr Albanese has not made a public appearance since US President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Penny Wong finally expressed support for the US attacks on Monday after initially failing to back Australia’s closest ally.
“What happens now matters. We do not want to see escalation. We call for diplomacy, de-escalation and dialogue,” Ms Wong said at a doorstop press conference on Monday.
“The world does not want to a full-scale war in the Middle East.”
Ms Wong also told reporters that Australia was “not a central player” in the Israel-Iran conflict.
Two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) planes landed in Dubai on Sunday ahead of repatriation flights for Australians stranded in Israel.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) there were about 2,900 Australians in Iran and 1,300 in Israel who were seeking to leave the region.
Acting shadow foreign affairs minister Andrew Hastie, in response, criticised the Albanese government for being “flat-footed” in its response to the conflict on Monday.
“The Prime Minister has been very ambiguous, very flat-footed. His instincts are all wrong,” he told Sky News.
“He should have called a national security committee meeting and he should have stood up and spoken to the Australian people.”
Shadow competition minister Dave Sharma also told Sky News that Australia had made itself “irrelevant” through the conflict.
“We had (Defence Minister) Richard Marles… calling for de-escalation at the very same time, almost, that US B2 bombers… were striking nuclear targets in Iran,” he said.
“No one listens to our views seriously anymore on these issues, particularly in the Middle East.”
Just hours before President Donald Trump confirmed the US had destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities, Mr Marles had called for “de-escalation”.
“The Iranian nuclear ballistic missile program is most definitely a threat to the peace and stability of not only the Middle East,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“We have used our voice to urge de-escalation. And that’s our position in respect of both the Iranian program, but also, more specifically, in respect of this conflict.”
Mr Marles was asked if he was having “$1 each way” by not explicitly supporting the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, prohibiting their access to world-ending technology.
The Defence Minister stumbled over his answer as he attempted to explain the government’s stance on the matter.
“Uh, uh. Um, I’m… articulating the Australian government’s position. That’s the only thing I can articulate,” Mr Marles said.
“We are making it clear that we see that the Iranian program represents a threat to the peace and stability of the region and the world…
“What we’re saying in relation to this specific conflict is that we are worried about its prospect for escalation.”
Roughly 24 hours later, Ms Wong insisted the government was “very clear” in its support for US strikes against Iran.
“Australia has been clear, along with the international community, that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” she told reporters at Parliament House.
“We support action to prevent that from occurring and this is what this was.”
Her comments mark a notable shift in tone from the carefully worded government statement released on Sunday.
That initial statement did not include any reference to Australia “supporting” the US action.
