Australia politics live: two more Iranians reportedly seek asylum; NSW hospitals see record emergency attendances

From 1h ago 19.56 GMT Two more Iranians seek asylum in Australia after football team flies out – reports Martin Farrer Two more members of the Iranian women’s football team have reportedly sought asylum in Australia after competing in the Women’s Asian Cup tournament. According to multiple reports, a plane left Sydney airport on Tuesday night local time for Malaysia with players and staff, ending a dramatic two days during which five players were granted asylum after refusing to return home. That number rose to seven on Tuesday night, according to several media outlets, when two more members of the group decided to remain in Australia. Reports said the squad left Sydney at 10.43pm local time on Malaysia Airlines flight MH140 bound for Kulala Lumpur but it was not clear what route they would take back to Iran after that because the country’s airspace is closed due to the Middle East conflict. Full story here: Two more Iranians seek asylum in Australia after football team flies out – reports Read more Share Updated at 21.04 GMT

1m ago 21.04 GMT Wong defends bill to block temporary visas from Middle East Moving to ABC RN Breakfast, the foreign minister Penny Wong defends the government’s decision to introduce a bill to stop people from some countries travelling to Australia on some temporary visas and seeking to stay permanently because of the Middle East war. Labor moves to block some temporary visa holders travelling to Australia amid Middle East war Read more Host, Sally Sara, points out that the bill to block people from countries including Iran was introduced the same day that the government announced it had offered humanitarian visas to the five Iranian soccer players. Wong says, “the legislation doesn’t apply to humanitarian visas”. This is true – the legislation states it doesn’t apply to humanitarian visas and has a few exceptions for people who have dependent children in Australia or who are immediate family of Australian citizens. But there’s still a question mark over the timing of the announcement. Wong says: double quotation mark I know that there’s been some political criticism, but it should be based on fact. It’s not legislation which targets humanitarian visas. It’s legislation which enables us to manage temporary visas … We have to work out how we manage our borders in a context of a very large-scale event.