EDITORIAL: Aussie forces need clarity over Iran conflict role
If confronted by the need to make a split-second decision, the Australian personnel in the region will not have time to sit back and ponder how to respond.
Warfare can leave little time for decision-making for those in the field.
Certainty is important.
But what we know of Australia’s involvement in the war against Iran so far leaves plenty of grey areas.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Our involvement has been revealed bit by bit, with media probing stonewalled by the Government until it can avoid the issue no longer.
That started with the revelation last week by The Nightly that Al Minhad Airbase outside Dubai, used by Australian forces in the Middle East, had been hit by Iranian strikes.
The Nightly then revealed two US P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance planes arrived at Perth’s RAAF Base Pearce after flying from the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
There has been no information released about any involvement of the intelligence base at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs, or the Harold E. Holt naval communications station at Exmouth in WA’s north-west.
When a US submarine sank an Iranian warship, the Government dodged the issue until Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted three Royal Australian Navy members were embedded on the boat that fired the fatal torpedo.
Rather confusingly, Mr Albanese also said that “no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran”.
The Nightly today reveals that the Australians on the US submarine had been ordered to their sleeping quarters while the operation to fire torpedoes at the target was underway.
And so we remain in a sort of twilight zone about our role.
Even the Government’s announcement that it will deploy military assets to the Middle East raises questions.
Australia will send an E-7A Wedgetail surveillance plane — and the personnel needed to support it — for an initial four week period alongside advanced medium range air-to-air missiles.
Mr Albanese said the move was in response to a “range of requests” from the United Arab Emirates.
The Prime Minister refused to say what the other UAE requests were. He also declined to say if he had discussed military support with US President Donald Trump in an overnight phone call.
In contrast to its unfortunate rhetoric around Israel’s existential response to the Iran-sponsored attacks launched by Hamas and Hezbollah since 2023, the Government — to its credit — was quick to offer support for the US-Israel strikes on the tyrannical Iranian regime.
This put it on the right side of history, and stood in contrast to the lukewarm responses of many European nations and the United Kingdom.
The Government is attempting to walk a fine line about our involvement. For now we appear to be half-in and half-out.
But the Middle East is highly unstable. If confronted by the need to make a split-second decision the Australian personnel in the region will not have time to sit back and ponder how to respond.
They will need to know very clearly what is expected of them.
