News live: Wong says Australian government supports US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities but warns against all-out war | Australia news

Penny Wong said earlier there are more than 4,000 people registered with the Australian government as wanting to leave the Middle East: 1,300 in Israel and 2,900 in Iran.

Hastie says Coalition supports strikes, but want a ‘peaceful settlement from here’

The acting shadow foreign affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, reiterated this morning the Coalition supported the US strikes on Iran, but called for diplomacy moving forward. He told RN Breakfast:

I’m glad to see that Penny Wong has essentially endorsed our position and I’m glad we have bipartisanship on this, that the world, as she said, has agreed Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. …

We support those strikes, and now we want to see dialogue and diplomacy. We want to see a peaceful settlement from here. And I’m just not going to speculate on what steps might be taken next.

RN Breakfast host Sally Sara pressed Hastie on the legality of the strikes and if there was any concern there. Hastie said those things would be debated in the coming days, but added:

What’s happened has happened, and the question is: Do we support the US in their strikes? Yes, we do. Why? Because we don’t want to see Iran getting a nuclear weapon.

Almost seven in 10 renters worry about asking for repairs in case it prompts a rent increase, AAP reports. A survey of more than 1,000 renters across Australia has also found a third would be unable to afford a 5% increase on what they’re currently paying.

Half the respondents lived in homes that need repairs and one in 10 needed them carried out urgently. The survey found 31% of rental homes have cockroach, ant or other pest problems, almost a quarter are leaky and one in five have issues with hot water, while almost as many feature mouldy bathrooms.

Rents, meanwhile, have surged a staggering 47% in the past five years amid calls for nationwide rental increase limits.

Researchers found 68% of tenants feared asking their landlord to repair their residence would mean upping the rent, 56% suspected it would get them evicted and 52% worried that they would be placed on a blacklist stopping them renting another property.

The study was conducted by the Australian Council of Social Security, University of NSW, Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, National Shelter and the National Association of Renter Organisations.

Wong says it is ‘right’ to call for diplomacy and de-escalation now

Wong also spoke to ABC News this morning, saying:

It is right to call for diplomacy and de-escalation at this point because we do not want to see escalation and a full-scale war in the Middle East. That would be devastating for the people of the region and it would be a bad thing, it would be obviously highly disruptive to global stability.

The foreign minister said Iran had long flouted its obligations when it came to nuclear material, adding:

I think it is important to remember that the facilities that were struck only existed for the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program. That’s what we are talking about.

The world has long agreed Iran is not in compliance with its international obligations when it comes to nuclear material and the world long agreed it’s not in the interests of collective peace and security for Iran to gain access to a nuclear weapon.

Wong says government remains focused on supporting Australians in Middle East

Wong said the government remains “very focused” on doing “whatever we can” to support Australians in Iran, but called the situation there “extremely difficult”. She said:

The airspace remains closed in both countries we have deployed Australian officials to the border with Azerbaijan so if people are able to make their way to that which is a obviously highly people have to make a judgment about how risky that is but we urge them to move if they believe they can do so safely.

Wong said airspace in Israel also remained closed and represented a complex situation, too.

There is some prospect of a window of airspace opening [in Israel]. Obviously, that is highly dependent on the situation on the ground, and we are seeking to try and arrange a facilitated flight in the event that the airspace opens.

Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said the government supported the US strikes against Iranian nuclear targets yesterday, but remained deeply concerned about what happens next, calling for diplomacy and de-escalation in the Middle East. Wong spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying:

We have all agreed, the world has agreed, Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. So, yes, we support action to prevent that, and that is what this is. But I would make this point: the big question is now what? We do not want escalation in a full-scale war and we continue to call for dialogue and diplomacy. …

We’re deeply concerned about continued escalation in a full-scale war with all of the consequences, not just for Australians in the region, but all the peoples of the region and the risk to global instability.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Nick Visser. Here’s what we’ll be looking at this morning.

• The Australian government is calling for a “de-escalation” after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites yesterday, with almost 4,000 Australian citizens attempting to flee the conflict zone. The federal Coalition backed the attacks and have accused Labor of being “too ambiguous” in its response, while the Greens called the strikes a “blatant breach of international law” and urged Australia to distance itself from the US. The Albanese government has maintained the Iranian nuclear program threatens the “stability of the world”.

• Australia risks losing a “war on nicotine” as illegal tobacco sales explode. Experts have warned against changes that could undermine decades of fighting to bring down smoking rates, with some calling for a major overhaul in how we tax tobacco and regulate vaping products.

• Nearly seven in 10 renters say they are fearful of asking for repairs out of fear they could face a rent increase, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 people across the country. The survey also found one-third of respondents would not be able to afford a 5% increase on their current rent.

Stick with us.