TV interview with NewsDay, Sky News

Kieran Gilbert, host: Australian citizens in Lebanon are being told to leave while they can. The Assistant Foreign Minister, Tim Watts, joins me. Thanks for your time Minister, can you just reiterate what the message is to those Australians who might be in Lebanon right now?

Tim Watts, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs: We have a very simple message for all Australian residents, citizens and their family in Lebanon, Kieran, and that is the time to leave is now. If you're an Australian who's contemplating a trip to Lebanon, our strong advice is: do not. The situation at the moment in Lebanon is that we may see a significant escalation of the conflict in the region with very little notice. The security situation could deteriorate very quickly. Now, at the moment, the Beirut airport is operating, but we're already starting to see some flights being cancelled and if a conflict escalates to the point where the Beirut airport is closed, the Australian Government may not be able to facilitate your evacuation and you may be stuck there for an extended period of time during a crisis. So, our strong advice is, please take the opportunity you have now, jump on one of those flights, come home to Australia.

Gilbert: Yeah, it's good advice. How many Australians do you believe are there right now?

Watts: Well, Australia and Lebanon are intensely connected through family, business, community ties. So, at any one point in time, there may be anywhere from 10 to 30,000 Australians in Lebanon, it's a very significant community. And indeed, that's why even before the October 7 terrorist attacks, I travelled to Lebanon last year to review our consular contingency planning. Regrettably, we have some experience with the need to evacuate Australians from Lebanon at scale, at short notice, as we saw in 2006. But having done that, I can say very clearly, Kieran, that the situation we would confront today would be vastly more complex than the situation we confronted in 2006. It would be far more difficult to mount a large-scale evacuation today than it was then. So, that's why we're giving very strong advice to all Australians, residents, their family in Lebanon: take the option available to you now, come home.

Gilbert: Yeah, I remember the efforts in 2006 in evacuating Australians to Cyprus via ferry and boat, I think to Turkey as well. There's no guarantee that access via water would be possible as well if, heaven forbid, this does become a catastrophic expansion of this conflict, as many fear right now, Tim Watts.

Watts: Well that's right, Kieran. And since 2006, of course, we had that tragic and horrific Beirut port explosion that has impacted the infrastructure there. And more broadly, the region sits on the brink of a major escalation. We cannot predict how such an escalation would unfold in the region, how it would impact the different potential avenues out of the country. So, that's why we're saying that there are existing avenues available to Australians, very straightforward ones, and that's getting on the plane out of Beirut airport and leaving now. So, we're just saying to Australian-Lebanese, I know you might have felt like you've been here before, you've heard this all before, but please don't wait and see how this is going to turn out. Don't push your luck. Take the options available to you now, jump on a plane and leave.

Gilbert: Yes, and that's the thing, it's such a volatile place that many, sadly, have been there before, since 1975 and that civil war that erupted, it's been a period of turmoil ever since. We do have a diplomatic presence, as you said, you were there last year. What's the plan for our diplomats?

Watts: Well, our diplomats have been playing a very important role throughout this conflict. And in this particular context, they've been delivering a message to Beirut that we've also delivered to the Netanyahu Government and to the Government in Tehran, and that's that there's no scope for escalation on the Israel-Lebanese border, that any large scale conflict in that region would have catastrophic consequences for civilians in Israel, in Lebanon, and indeed for the tens of thousands of Australian citizens and residents in Lebanon. So, our diplomats have been able to deliver that message directly. We've been very clear in that. They also do that day-to-day consular contingency planning. I've been there myself. I've reviewed it myself. It's incredibly detailed, it's incredibly granular. But in a rapidly evolving, highly complex situation, you can't control all of the circumstances. And we're just being very clear, very upfront with Australians that if Beirut airport closed, we cannot guarantee the ability to evacuate Australians from Lebanon, and you may be stuck there for an extended period of time in a very serious crisis.

Gilbert: Middle of summer too, and many, many Australians would be there enjoying that weather on the Mediterranean. Let's hope that they do take heed of your advice, though. Tim Watts, Assistant Foreign Minister, thanks. Appreciate it.

Watts: Pleasure, Kieran.