"Military assets" have been deployed to the Middle East, the prime minister has confirmed, as the second of four confirmed flights with stranded Australians onboard departed from Dubai.
SBS News understands two military planes were deployed, a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster heavy transport aircraft and KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport, as part of the government's response to the outbreak of conflict.
It follows the New Zealand government announcing it will send two defence force aircraft to repatriate its citizens from the region.
The first commercial flight out of Dubai since war broke out between the US, Israel and Iran on Saturday touched down in Sydney late Wednesday night, with more than 200 Australians on board.
Global airspace over the region has been disrupted, with Iran having now launched strikes at 11 countries in retaliation — the latest target being Türkiye overnight, before NATO air defences shot a ballistic missile down.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed a second flight destined for Sydney left on Thursday morning, with more flights from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) expected.
"Another flight, EK414 is in the air with over 200 Australians on board," Albanese said in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The prime minister disclosed two more flights would depart the UAE on Thursday, with the situation in the region "dangerous and fast-moving".
"We know there are many Australians who are waiting for an opportunity to get home," Albanese said.
"The Australian government, the UAE and the Gulf states are working hard to secure more flights to get Australians home as soon as possible."
There are 115,000 Australians in the region, with at least 24,000 located in Dubai. This includes expats or people transiting through.
He said agencies and partners were "working around the clock" to help Australians on the ground, alongside six additional crisis centre teams.
"And we've already deployed military assets as part of our contingency planning earlier this week," Albanese said.
The government has not disclosed the locations of the assets but SBS understands they have been sent near the region.
The Globemaster, a logistics-oriented cargo plane, can be configured to carry 134 passengers, while the KC30-A, a heavily modified Airbus A330 airliner, can carry up to 270 passengers with a range of 14,800km/s.
Coalition calls on ADF personnel to be deployed
Senator James Paterson, who earlier in the day urged the government to use "ADF assets to repatriate Australians", called on the prime minister to urgently clarify the deployments.
He questioned what assets were deployed, to which country and for what purpose.
"And if there are Australian military assets in the region, when will they take Australians on board and bring them home?" Paterson asked.
"It's up to the prime minister to explain what's happening."
Paterson referred to repatriation efforts out of Afghanistan in 2021 as precedent for deploying military personnel to the region.
"That was an extraordinary crisis situation, but very quickly, a very large number of Australian government assets deployed and evacuated 1000s of Australians and our friends from Afghanistan," he told reporters.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday that Australia was not considering sending Australian troops to assist in the conflict, if requested by the US.
When asked about the involvement of military personnel on Thursday morning, Wong refused to go into specifics of assets on the ground but said her government and staff were "looking at all contingencies".
She said she was "deeply concerned" by the conflict, which has spread "very rapidly" and is "much more intense".
"I don't think we anticipated, or any country might have anticipated that Iran would respond in the way that it has," she said.
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