TRANSCRIPT:
"Our position is to encourage the relevant parties now to engage in dialogue and diplomacy and to ensure that there's not an escalation. We've expressed our concerns for some time about the Maduro regime in Venezuela. We are supporters of international law, and it's for the Americans to make clear the legal basis of the steps taken over the weekend."
That was Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, reacting to a US military mission that resulted in the bombing of Venezuelan air defences and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
On Saturday, the US launched strikes from 20 airbases across the Western Hemisphere, seizing the Venezuelan leader and his wife from their Caracas compound.
When questioned on whether President Donald Trump breached international law, Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres offered a similar view to that of Dr Chalmers.
Mr Ayres told the ABC it is still very early in the unfolding series of events.
"We're focused, of course, on three things, firstly, establishing the facts here, and gathering evidence about what has occurred. We've made it clear, of course, that following international law is absolutely important, and we're taking steps, as you would expect, at a cultural level, to ensure that the safety of Australians who are in Venezuela at the moment is being looked after."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the events were a standard law enforcement operation.
However, former US ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro dismisses this argument.
"You know when you use that much military force, that many ships, helicopters, soldiers, intel elements to find Maduro, you know - and then say 'oh, that was just a police operation,' that stretches what ... You know, ask your spouse if that's a police operation or a military operation?"
But Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Jono Duniam has told channel Nine it is President Maduro who doesn't respect the rule of law.
"Well I have to say, from my observations, I don't agree with the former ambassador. The activities of that President, turning a blind eye, or indeed supporting the actions of those underneath him, that I think, based on what the President and others in the United States administration are telling us, put the United States citizens at risk. Especially with the importation of drugs - is something that needs to be dealt with, and this is a hallmark of the Trump regime, the Trump government: we are seeing that they are taking decisive action, and they are taking out people who don't - like us in Australia, like the United States, like the United Kingdom - respect the rule of law."
However Greens Senator David Shoebridge says the US operation is a "gross breach of international law."
Mr Shoebridge says Australia must join other middle powers in condemning the United States' illegal attack on Venezuela to protect the international rules-based order.
He says failing to impose consequences for such a breach of international law simply emboldens global tyrants and sets a dangerous precedent for future aggression.
"Right now, Australia should be fundamentally reassessing its relationship with the United States, which was meant to be based on shared values and a shared belief in an international rules-based order. That relationship is now in tatters. Australia needs to be removing US bases from our soil, removing US troops from our country and ending the dangerous gamble of AUKUS, which seeks to tie us to Donald Trump and the next US president, not for years, but for decades. Does anybody honestly think Australia is safer right now with foreign troops on our soil under the direction of a leader like Donald Trump? Because that's the direction both Labor and the Coalition are taking us down under AUKUS."
Ben Saul is Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism.
Mr Saul dismisses Marco Rubio’s assertion that the attack was a law enforcement operation.
He says the intense military operation bombed several Venezuelan bases and targets, killing 80 people, including civilians, and this use of force constitutes an illegal act of aggression under the UN Charter, granting Venezuela the right to self-defence.
Furthermore, he's told the ABC the leaders who ordered the invasion have committed a crime punishable under international law.
"In international law, you can't send your police into another country without the permission of the foreign country's government. One important difference here is that it's not just about drugs. I mean, in Venezuela, the US has made it very clear it wants to get its hands on and control Venezuela's oil and natural resources. So that is a significant difference."
