The federal government has hit back at Peter Dutton’s claims that Australia is at odds with its allies over the conflict in the Middle East, characterising this as “an intentional lie” that aims to fuel division.
With more Australians expected to fly out of Lebanon on Sunday as Israel steps up strikes in southern Beirut, the government said it was “deeply anxious” about the “extraordinary loss of innocent life in Gaza” and the prospect of the conflict spreading.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the government recognised that Israel had “a right to defend itself” but he did not go into the specifics about what that response should entail.
Marles took aim at Dutton, the opposition leader, for saying Australia was “at odds now with our major partners and our major friends”.
“That is a patent lie,” Marles told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
“It’s an intentional lie and it’s a lie intended to create division within Australian politics and from there within Australian society.”
Marles said he had been “surprised” to see what he labelled as a “consistent pattern from Peter Dutton over the course of the last 12 months” since the beginning of the conflict triggered by the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.
“What we have seen is Peter Dutton seeking to exploit this moment to create division in Australian society and that should be condemned,” Marles said.
A response has been sought from Dutton, who had accused the government of being vague in its stance about how Israel should respond to threats from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Dutton said on Thursday it was “not good to be at odds with our allies” and argued the US president, Joe Biden, and other western leaders had “shown absolute clarity where the prime minister has not”.
Marles reiterated the government’s condemnation of the Hamas attack of 7 October including the continued holding of hostages, while saying the resulting conflict was an “absolute catastrophe”.
He said Australia had called for an end to hostilities “in line with other countries around the world, like-minded countries, who similarly have looked on with a sense of horror at the loss of life which has ensued in Gaza”.
“I think as we have seen tens of thousands of innocent lives lost in Gaza, and indeed innocent lives lost in Lebanon, we are, of course, horrified by that. I am horrified by that. The government is. I think Australians are and the world is.
“That’s what we mean by the fact that how Israel defends itself matters, how it defends itself will be judged.”
Marles said Australia was “on exactly the same page as the US”, including by signing a joint statement on 25 September calling for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border “to provide space for diplomacy”.
He also spoke about the challenges of helping Australians to leave Lebanon, saying Hezbollah had a presence “not far from the airport” in Beirut “so we have seen strikes near the airport, but thankfully at this moment the airport remains open”.
Two flights from Beirut to Cyprus on Saturday carried a total of 407 Australians. They are expected to take connecting flights to Australia, operated by Qantas and Qatar Airways, starting from Sunday.
A further two Australian government-facilitated flights are expected to leave Beirut on Sunday.
