Portfolio — 12 March 2026

Senator Wong reported to the Senate on 12 March that more than 3,600 Australians have now returned from the Middle East on 26 commercial flights, with three further flights departing that day. Nine Australian diplomatic posts have sustained direct missile and drone attacks, missions have closed due to physical threats, and the government is urging the 10,000-plus Australians remaining in Lebanon to depart immediately.

The Middle East escalation is also driving a domestic fuel-supply response: the Energy Minister has directed additional fuel into the Australian market and the National Coordination Mechanism is coordinating industry and jurisdictions to stabilise supply. The portfolio framed these as a single dual-track challenge — citizen evacuation and supply-chain security — with humanitarian obligations to Gaza running in parallel.