Wong: Middle East ceasefire should apply to entire region

0:00The Federal Government has welcomed a two-week ceasefire between the U.S.-Israel and Iran, but the truth is already on shaky grounds. There have been a wave of Israeli strikes in Lebanon overnight, with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting the ceasefire does not include its war in Lebanon. Penny Wong is the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Penny Wong, welcome back to Radio National, good to see you. Now, is Israel breaching the ceasefire with its strikes on Beirut and other parts of Lebanon overnight? We've called for the ceasefire to apply to Lebanon and for both Hezbollah and Israel to observe the ceasefire. And the reason is that if fighting continues in Lebanon, it risks the whole ceasefire across the region. So we called for that last night. We've been joined overnight by the G7 and other countries, saying the same thing. And we continue to assert that. Have you been in touch with your Israeli counterpart or has the ambassador here been spoken to to present that point of view from Australia?

1:04Not in the last 12 hours, but I've said that publicly. And there's a very pragmatic reason for that. And we see that already. That if fighting continues in Lebanon, if Israel continues to not observe the ceasefire, there is a risk the ceasefire across the region will be at risk. And we don't want that. We love the ceasefire to hold. We know it's fragile. We know what it means for the world. And we know what it means for Australians at the petrol bowser. Minister, I might get you to pop your headphones on if that is all right briefly. I just want to play to you a small amount of audio from one of our interviews earlier on this morning. Either way is fine. We spoke to Dr. Firas Abiyad. He's a former health minister with Lebanon. He's still an MP and he's also a surgeon. He was working in the American University Medical Center working on the wounded overnight. Let's just take a little bit of a listen of what he told us this morning. This morning, after the news about the ceasefire, the first casualty of the day was an ambulance that was next to the city of Teer

2:11where there were four casualties. So he's saying an ambulance was among the first hit after this ceasefire was announced. You've signed a statement condemning the killing of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon but we're also seeing constant targeting of health workers. Can I ask for your response in your message to Israel when it comes to those kinds of strikes that are impacting directly health workers? We didn't just sign the statement actually. We let it. And we let it because we care very deeply about continuing to assert the importance of international humanitarian law and particularly for aid workers. I mean, these are the best of us and they should be protected. They should not be at risk doing their job. And you might recall the declaration that we led at last year's General Assembly of the United Nations resulted from the death of Zommi Franco, an Australian who was working with World Central Kitchen who was killed in a strike by the Israeli Defence Force, who erroneously targeted her convoy.

3:14And we made the point then and we make now with other countries that the world has signed up to the Geneva Conventions, the world has signed up to war rules even in war and they should be applied. You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is the Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong. Minister, there's been an international statement penned overnight from the UK, many European countries, Canada and Japan, among them welcoming the end of the war and pledging to contribute to the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Is Australia going to join that particular statement? Because of the time difference, we're often first. And so, in fact, the statement reflects what the Prime Minister and I said in the hours before that statement was issued, which is we welcome the cease fire. It is fragile. We wanted to hold. The statement also reflects what I said on 7.30 last night, which is, we want the cease fire to apply to Lebanon for the reasons you and I have discussed. We want the Strait reopened and we know what that means is that shipping must have the confidence for passage, for safe passage.

4:17That's the only way we are going to restore stability to energy markets and to restore reasonable prices for petrol here in Australia. I'm glad you mentioned the freedom of shipping to allow for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen the conditions we've seen that are run put forward, that has led to this cease fire so they can talk about a lasting peace. It has suggested that they will continue to control in some way passage of oil tankers through that Strait. Currently, we have seen the IRGC imposing a toll on traffic going through. How would Australia manage if that continues to be the case? Well, this is one of the issues for negotiation and it is one of the issues. It is the issue that the world has such great focus on and I joined with 42 countries last week for a discussion about how we can support a resolution to this and how we can ensure for all of us

5:19that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is returned. To be clear, Australia has prescribed the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism. So presumably, Australia or Australian flagships are not in any position to be able to pay a toll to Iran. Well, the toll, well, I'm not going to get drawn into hypotheticals. I'd make the point though that we want is freedom of navigation through the Strait. We want the Strait opened and that's one of the issues that is up for negotiation. And I know that I see reports overnight that the US and Iran are having conversations which are being broken by Pakistan, the group of countries, includes Egypt and Turkey, who have been involved in, as well as Saudi Arabia, involved in trying to broker this ceasefire and these arrangements. I spoke to the Egyptians and the Egyptian and Turkish foreign ministers I think two nights ago and it was updated on the status of those negotiations

6:19and they are very clear about the importance of the Strait. Yeah, can I ask though when it comes to Australia's provisions around the prescription we have of the IRGC. Australia doesn't have flagged tankers going through the Strait of Hormuz. But how far does that extend through the supply chain? If some of the countries that we are buying refined fuel from are paying a toll for oil that comes through the Strait, does Australia's restrictions around providing financial support extend further down the supply chain of buying refined fuel that may have come through the Strait? Our provisions about the listing of an organisation are clear. What we want is the Strait opened. But is there any limitation now on Australia receiving? Well, you are asking me to assume that what we want doesn't occur and what the diplomatic position has to be, the position of all countries is that the Strait should be opened.

7:21We are not the only country who are advocating. The entire international community, as you put to me, the statement over time by the G7, the EU and a whole range of other primarily European but not only countries, demonstrates the position of the world. That's Australia's position. We want the Strait open. You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest Penny Wong, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. You mentioned many of the discussions that you have been having. Likewise, the Prime Minister is on his way to Singapore, Richard Miles in Japan as well. There have already been some level of assurances from our partners in Southeast Asia. Does the fact that the Prime Minister is heading to Singapore does that suggest the level of reassurance we have? It isn't quite sufficient. What it suggests is that we recognise that our resilience in great part depends on our relationships with our region and our relationship with other partners. We are a reliable supplier of energy into our region, both near region but also North Asia.

8:26What we seek from our partners is a similar reliability. In our conversations with them, that is where people are. People want to make sure we are mutual, reliable suppliers. We are all grappling with what has occurred in terms of the disruption to global energy markets. And we want to work through this together in a way that assures our economies and in a way that assures our continued supply. Does that mean that further written assurances will be sought or will though having those conversations in person at leader to leader level that the Prime Minister does? Will those in person assurances be sufficient for Australia to be comfortable? We will work to maximise the reliability of supply into Australia. And if I can say that in my conversations with Singapore, with Japan, with Korea, with Malaysia, that is their posture as well. We both want to be reliable partners to each other.

9:28And we want to work through these very disruptive times together. And when it comes to working together to try and ensure that there is freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, if we come to the point of having international action to secure that, would Australia be willing to contribute to efforts in the Persian Gulf? Well, we are already contributing diplomatically. That is what the discussion with 42 countries was last week. We will continue to work with other countries in the context of these negotiations because we all want to see, we all want to see the Strait open. Ultimately, this is a centrally showing the negotiations between the United States and Iran. Penny Wong, thank you very much for coming back to Radio National Breakfast this morning. Good to be with you.