‘Consequences’: Barnaby’s sobering message

Barnaby Joyce says Australians who decided to stay in Lebanon must “accept the consequences” of not heeding the government’s calls to leave the Middle East country.

The former Nationals leader’s comments came as at least one RAAF plane touched down in Cyprus late Wednesday (local time) following the Albanese government’s confirmation it was working to evacuate Australians from Lebanon.

In a rare show of support for Anthony Albanese, Mr Joyce said on Thursday the Prime Minister “has been asking for a long period of time for people to leave”.

“The partisan nature of me would always be to go completely against the Prime Minister, but I won’t at this stage,” he told Nine’s Today.

He asked Australians in Lebanon, who are at serious risk of getting caught in a conflict between Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and the Israeli military, if they wanted the “Australian Air Force to go into Beirut and pick you up?”

“That means you’re putting Australian soldiers, Australian servicemen and servicewomen’s lives on the line because you didn’t accept a warning that you got quite some time ago to get out of that part of the world,” he said.

“And now I hope that they can facilitate their removal from this area, but there does come a point where you say you’ve decided.

“You’ve made a decision some time ago to stay in a very dangerous part of the world, and by staying there, you now have to accept the consequences.”

Israel’s military said it was targeting the Lebanese capital Beirut in the early hours of Thursday (local time).

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated rapidly over the past two weeks, but the government has been urging Australians in Lebanon to leave for months.

While it is unclear how many Australians are still in the country, as many as 16,000 regularly reside there.

Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, launched a barrage of nearly 200 missiles at Israel yesterday, sparking fresh concerns the Middle East conflict could expand even further and involve more advanced arsenals in the region.

“I’m sure the government will do whatever within their power to get (Australians) out,” Mr Joyce said.

“We have now the horrific circumstances of potentially two possible nuclear powers with Iran and Israel.

“They’re firing with fire missiles at Israel. I don’t know where this ends up, but it’s not going to be good.”

NewsWire has sought confirmation on how many RAAF planes have landed in Cyprus and whether they would go on to Lebanon.

Defence Minister Richard Marles told the ABC the government was “working with our partners, particularly the United Kingdom and Canada”, to help repatriate people.

“We have been assisting Australians to leave over the last few days and we will continue clearly to do that as we move forward,” he said.

More to come