12m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 9:18pm
Australia’s involvement ‘purely defensive’: PM
Australia’s involvement in the Middle East conflict is “purely defensive,” Anthony Albanese says.
“It’s in defence of Australians who are in the region as well as in in defence of our friends in the United Arab Emirates,” the prime minister says.
“We have a free trade agreement with them and that’s opened up the markets of the Middle East.”
The prime minister has stressed that Australia is “not a protagonist” in the war.
Albanese adds he has “enormous respect” for the UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
21m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 9:09pm
Trump called Albanese just before 2am
It was a very early morning phone call between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump.
The prime minister confirmed the US president called him just before 2am.
“We had a very positive discussion. He was concerned about the Iranian women in the soccer team and their welfare and their safety if they returned home,” Albanese says.
“I was able to convey to him the action that we’d taken over the previous 48 hours and that five [members] of the team had asked for assistance and had received it and were safely located.”
Albanese says that if any of the remaining members of the team ask for assistance they’ll receive it.
25m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 9:04pm
No need for panic buying of fuel: Bowen
Energy Minister Chris Bowen also provided a quick update on Australia’s fuel supplies, seeking to reassure it “remains at this point secure”.
“We have as much diesel in Australia today as we had before this crisis began,” he says.
“We are seeing a big increase in demand, particularly for diesel, and I understand why Australians are concerned. But my key message is that every single expected arrival of diesel supply in recent days, and expected in coming days and weeks, has arrived on schedule as expected.
“There is no need for panic buying now.”
It comes amid concerns from farmers and smaller fuel distributors about fuel supplies.Â
29m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 9:00pm
Most of Australians stuck in transit in Middle East have returned: Wong
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has also given us an update on the situation for Australians stuck in the Middle East.
More than 2,600 Australians have now returned via commercial flights. Additional flights are scheduled in the coming days. The first flight from Qatar landed back in Australia yesterday and there is a hope further flights are able to return in the coming days. Wong confirms she spoke with the Qatari PM last night. Limited outbound commercial flights have also resumed from Tel Aviv. Bus transportation has been organised to get Australians out of Kuwait, where the airport remains closed.
She says the majority of Australians who were stuck in the region in transit have now left.
“There are many more Australians still in the Middle East and we do understand these are difficult decisions for Australians and their families,” she says, adding if they want to leave they should do so while commercial flights are still avaliable.
34m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:56pm
85 Defence personnel to accompany spy plane on Gulf deployment
Defence Minister Richard Marles has given us a bit more information on the deployment of E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft to the Gulf.
The spy plane will be used in a similar capacity to when it was deployed to Poland to assist Ukraine.
Marles says 85 personnel, the “normal crew”, will be deployed alongside the aircraft later today.
“The expectation is that it will be in the region in the middle of the week and operational by the end of the week.”
37m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:52pm’If you want our help, help is here’: PM’s call to rest of Iranian women’s soccer team
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also touched on the Iranian women’s soccer team.
Five members of the team were granted humanitarian visas by the home affairs minister late last night. The offer remains open to the rest of the women.
Albanese says the government had been preparing for this “for some time”.
“They’re safe here and they should feel at home here,” the prime minister says.
“The minister for home affairs has spoken directly with the ASIO director-general about this, and we dealt with this as well through our appropriate security forums.
“We’re willing to provide assistance to other women in the team, and I think that this is a very delicate situation and it is up to them. But we say to them, if you want our help, help us here, and we will provide that.”
40m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:49pm
No troops will be deployed to Iran: PM
Anthony Albanese says his first priority is to keep Australians safe.
“There are around 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, around 24,000 in the UAE,” the prime minister says.
He says helping Australians “means also helping the UAE and other Gulf nations to defend themselves against what are unprovoked attacks”.
The prime minister says he’s clear the government will not be deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran.
43m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:46pmAustralia to deploy military surveillance plane to UAE
One of Australia’s most sophisticated military surveillance planes will be deployed to the Middle East after a request from the United Arab Emirates.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia would send the E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft to the Gulf to help “protect and defend Australians and other civilians”.
“The Wedgetail will provide long-range reconnaissance capability, which will help to protect and secure the airspace above the Gulf.
“The Wedgetail and supporting Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed for an initial four weeks in support of the collective self of Gulf nations.”
Australia will also provide advance and medium-range air-to-air missiles to the UAE.
47m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:43pm
Anthony Albanese is up now
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has just stepped up.
He’s joined by Defence Minister Richard Marles, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.Â
50m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:40pm
A quick re-cap of the morning so farFive members of the Iranian women’s soccer team have been granted humanitarian visas. Conversations between the women and authorities began in the early hours of yesterday morning. They’ve now been moved to a safe location with the support of the Australian Federal Police.Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed he spoke with ASIO boss Mike Burgess before the visas were granted late last night. Burke says the offer to remain in Australian is open to the rest of the team if they choose to take it up.Â
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:29pm
Burke leaves the update on the Trump phone call to Albanese
Overnight, US President Donald Trump took to social media twice. The first was to demand Australia offer the Iranian women’s soccer team asylum.
The second was to confirm he’d spoken to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and that he was “on it”.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he’d leave it to the prime minister to give us an update on how the phone call went.
“I understand completely and I think lots of people would have looked at that sense from President Trump of wanting to help these women and would have seen feelings that they shared,” he says.
“But I think now people can have a great level of relief and confidence in knowing that they whole way through Australia has been making sure that the chance for a request for assistance can be made.”
And that’s where I’ll leave Burke’s press conference because I’m expecting Albanese to stand up any minute now.
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:21pmBurke confirms ASIO signed off on visas for Iranian soccer players
Australia’s top security official signed off before Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke made the offer of humanitarian assistance to five players from the Iranian women’s soccer team.
“I made final confirmation with the director-general of ASIO, Mike Burgess, to make sure that he was completely comfortable in terms of security clearances for the people who I was about to make the offer to,” he says.
“Then a call to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett, to reconfirm that the security plans were in place for the safety for these women.”
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:15pm
Not everyone on team will take up Australia’s offer of assistance: Burke
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the women granted humanitarian visas want to make it clear they are athletes and not political activists.
“They’re athletes who want to be safe and are very grateful that Australia is taking that opportunity,” he says.
He says the women on the team have had to weigh up an “incredibly difficult decision”.
“I respect that,” he says.
“Not everyone on the team will make a decision to take up the opportunity that Australia would offer them. What matters here is that they have the best agency they can over those decisions.
“So we’re making sure that the opportunity to seek assistance is there.”
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:12pm
AFP moved women to safe location yesterday
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says there has been a lot going on in recent days to make sure there were a “maximum number of opportunities” for the women to seek assistance.
“We didn’t know whether any would seek assistance. In the very early hours of yesterday morning, the conversation started in earnest,” he says
“Once that happened during the course of yesterday, it was made clear that there were five women who wanted to be able to stay in Australia.”
Burke says the women were moved to a safe location by the Australian Federal Police.
He says the offer remains open to the remaining members of the team.
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:09pmBurke confirms five of the Iranian women’s team told they are welcome to remain in Australia
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed the government has offered humanitarian visas to five Iranian soccer players.
“Last night, I was able to tell five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, that they are safe here, and they should feel at home here,” he says.
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:02pm
Anthony Albanese to speak shortly as well
When it rains, it pours.
We’ve just got confirmation that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will also hold his own press conference this morning in Parliament House.
Don’t worry, I’ll have it all covered in the live blog so stick around.
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:00pm
We’re standing by for a Tony Burke press conference
The home affairs minister is due to give a statement about the Iranian women’s soccer team in Brisbane.
It comes after the US President Donald Trump took to social media overnight to confirm he’d spoken to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was “on it”.
“Five have already been taken care of and the rest are on their way,” he wrote.
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 7:49pmTrump says Iranian football players have been ‘taken care of’
Five Iranian female soccer players who would likely have faced persecution if they returned to Iran are now safe with police and claiming asylum in Australia, as Donald Trump praised the prime minister for being “on it”.
The US president had earlier lashed out at Anthony Albanese, suggesting in a post on Truth Social that the women were being forced to leave Australia when they could be punished back in Iran.
After a conversation with the PM, however, Trump added: “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
Fears had been growing they would be targeted by the Iranian regime upon their return, after they were labelled “traitors” on Iranian state TV.
The American leader praised his Australian counterpart on “doing a very good job” in a “rather delicate situation”.
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 7:43pm
Labor MP warns against ‘dangerous’ linking of Israeli government to antisemitism
A federal Labor MP has strongly cautioned against linking the actions of the Israeli government to rising rates of antisemitism in Australia, describing it as a “dangerous equation” that he has seen inside his own party.
Josh Burns also acknowledged the government had not always acted fast enough to deal with antisemitism and said it was necessary to be “humble” in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
“No matter what happens, or no matter what the Israeli government does, you cannot hold responsible Jewish Australians for whatever your views are of that action,” he said.
“It’s just wrong, and it’s dangerous, and I’ve seen people, even in my own political organisation, draw that comparison.”
Mr Burns — who is Jewish — made the comments during the first ABC National Forum, where he appeared alongside other members of the Australian-Jewish community.
During the program, which examined the experiences of Jewish-Australians in the lead up to and after the Bondi terror attack, the Macnamara MP also detailed the difficulties of being a Jewish politician at this moment in history.
You can read the rest of our wrap of the National Forum below or catch up on iView.Â
1h agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 7:41pm
👋 Good morning
Hi pals. I’m Courtney Gould from the ABC’s Parliament House team.
I’m expecting Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to stand up any moment now in Brisbane, where he’ll give us an update on the Iranian women’s soccer players.
It comes after US President Donald Trump confirmed he spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese overnight after he called for the women to be given asylum in Australia after the team faced criticism from Iran for refraining from singing the national anthem before a match.
Let’s jump straight in.