Subjects: Qantas flights to Israel, pro-Palestinian rallies on Sunday, Cheng Lei release from incarceration, The Voice to Parliament referendum.

LISA MILLAR: Joining me now is the Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil. Good morning to you, thanks for coming in.

It's pretty distressing on all fronts quite frankly, isn't it?

CLARE O'NEIL: Yeah, it's absolutely horrible and unfortunately Australians are going to hear a lot more of this because this unprecedented act of violence and terrorism that's occurred in Israel is something that is going to have ramifications probably for months and years to come.

I think what has happened here is just so brutal in its act of violence, the killing of innocent men, women and children, and it's important for Australians to also understand that Hamas, the perpetrators of this violence, a listed terrorist organisation by the Australian Government, have also committed a crime against the Palestinian people, because many innocent people will die on the other side of this conflict, and all of this is violence begetting more violence. No one will win from this situation.

LISA MILLAR: Can I turn to these repatriation flights we've been speaking about this morning. Do you know how many people have registered for them, what's been the interest in them?

CLARE O'NEIL: Yeah. So, Lisa, for the Australian Government the top priority in a situation like this is the protection of the safety and security of Australians, and our focus of course is on Australians who are in Israel and Australians here at home.

There are about 10,000 people of dual citizenship who live in Israel at the moment, and somewhere around 45,000 Australians also travel to Israel each year. So it's possible that there will be quite large demand over time for these flights.

We have worked very hard to arrange two initial flights for Australians to leave Israel if they would like to do that, and those flights will begin departing tomorrow. But this is going to be a continuous process of the Australian Government working with people in Israel who want to leave.

As I said, this is going to continue for some time. We don't know exactly what's going to happen in the coming weeks and months and it's possible that there'll be an initial rush of people out of Israel, but then later others will want to leave.

Can I just say to your viewers if you're in Israel you can call Emergency Consular Assistance. I won't tell you the number but if you Google that it's very easy to find.

If you're an Australian too who has a family member in Israel, you can register their interest in leaving through DFAT. So if you google Emergency Consular Assistance you'll find a number for DFAT, and I'd encourage people who are concerned about relatives who want to register their interest in leaving to make sure that's known to DFAT.

LISA MILLAR: Just in the last few hours we've heard from the airline KLM who have said that they are now retracting their offer to the Dutch Government to get their citizens out because of safety concerns. We know that Canada is going to be sending Defence planes rather than civilian planes. Is this the right move to get Qantas to be in there getting people out?

CLARE O'NEIL: Yep. So, Lisa, the Foreign Minister's been working very hard on this. It is going to be something that needs to shift and change a little bit as the security situation changes, and I'll allow the Foreign Minister to speak to those options.

At this stage those Qantas flights are our starting point, and we'll continue to work very hard to make sure that Australians who need to leave are able to do so.

LISA MILLAR: Yeah, is one of the options that Australian Defence aircraft be used?

CLARE O'NEIL: Yeah, again I'll let Foreign Minister Wong speak to that.

LISA MILLAR: How much force does the Australian Government think is warranted from Israel given what we've seen over there?

CLARE O'NEIL: Look, I don't want to get into commentary about how the difference sides in this conflict should play things out. My possibility is the domestic security here in Australia. I share that responsibility with Mark Dreyfus and really my focus and concern is on communities who are particularly affected by this problem here in our country.

I'm sure that many of your viewers are well aware of this but for our Jewish Australian community the depth of feeling and the pain and the agony they feel watching this occur in their homeland, it really just can't be put into words and I can't tell you the number of times I've talked to Jewish Australians in the last couple of days and just their eyes have filled with tears as they speak about the fears they have for their children.

Here in Australia we've heard about issues of antisemitism occurring and we've really just got to take a breath as a nation and work out how we're going to deal with this in the Australian manner.

This beautiful multicultural country is about respecting each other, thinking about how our actions and words affect others and we really need to bring that to the fore of the public discussion.

LISA MILLAR: Okay. What should happen then on Sunday given that the rally organisers, the pro‑Palestinian rally organisers have said they're going to go ahead with their rally even though it's now not being authorised by police?

CLARE O'NEIL: So I'm going to let police deal with the literal physical occurrence of these rallies, and they'll act on security advice.

I would just say that I would ask people not to attend these rallies and just really consider how what you say and do at a time like this affects people who are really in pain and seriously hurting.

This is not about politics. It's not about your views on Palestine and Israel. What has happened here is a terrorist organisation has indiscriminately attacked and killed innocent men, women and children. There's no ifs or buts about this. We should be able to as one country outwardly and clearly condemn an act of violence.

LISA MILLAR: But the Palestinians would argue, and they have done quite fiercely, that they are now suffering, they have been suffering, they're continuing to suffer, and we are witnessing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

CLARE O'NEIL: Lisa, there is no question that Palestinians will be affected by the actions here, and I say again Hamas have committed a disgraceful atrocity against the Israeli people. This atrocity will cause violence against Palestinians. So this is just violence begetting violence. No one wins, no one moves forward.

The grand issues around the Middle East, around the seeking of a two‑state solution, around peace in that region which is what the vast majority of people living there want, is not being progressed in any way, shape or form by what has happened here.

So I just say again to Australians just consider how your actions affect your neighbours and your friends around this country. We're beautiful, peaceful, multicultural country, surely at a moment like this we should all be thinking about how we preserve this precious thing for our nation.

LISA MILLAR: Let's turn to a good news story which is the release of Cheng Lei. What can you tell us about her this morning? What's the latest?

CLARE O'NEIL: Oh look, I mean it's been a week of complete darkness on the international news front, and this is just a moment of sunshine for all Australians to see someone who has been incarcerated for three years. Cheng Lei wrote last year that she gets ten hours of sunshine a year in the years that she was imprisoned.

She's here at home with her family. I know there's been a very heartfelt reunion and I just want to say to her and to her entire family our country is just so thrilled for them. So thrilled for them that they get to see their mum again and that she's back home where she belongs.

LISA MILLAR: What happens next? Can you give us anything more?

CLARE O'NEIL: Well I think we allow this woman and her family to continue on with their lives. Something else that we're considering is the efforts that we need to continue for some Australians who remain incarcerated in China, and the Australian Government is working very hard on those.

I think one thing for your viewers to take away from this is just this is a little bit of insight into the enormous expertise and knowledge and work of diplomats of our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and I do have to credit our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and our Foreign Minister, Minister Wong. This is, you know, a very important diplomatic effort that's undertaken here and a great success story for our country in what's been otherwise a very difficult week.

LISA MILLAR: And look, just before we wrap up, the story that would normally be leading our bulletins is we are just a couple of days out from The Voice referendum vote. All of the polls indicate that it's going to be a resounding loss for the Yes campaign.

Again, yesterday Pat Dodson, another indigenous elder who has been calling for legislation or more to be done post Sunday, does it need to be re‑thought, Anthony Albanese's decision not to go ahead with legislation?

CLARE O'NEIL: Well I am very focussed on the referendum on Saturday and that's really where my head's at at the moment. I've been involved in politics for a long time, and you fight every day for the thing you believe in until that decision is made by the Australian people.

I just remind your viewers, if you haven't really engaged much with the referendum so far, make sure you seek out additional information. This is an idea that emerged from First Nations people. They asked the Prime Minister to put a question to the people recognising indigenous people in our constitution through a Voice to Parliament. That voice will be an advisory body to the Parliament to people like me, to make sure that when we make laws and policies about First Nations people we do so in consultation with them. And that will make us get better outcomes on that life expectancy gap of eight years.

Remember, Lisa, that a First Nations woman is twice as likely to die in childbirth as a non‑first time nations person. That's completely wrong and policy makers don't know how to solve these problems today so we need First Nations leaders to show us the way and The Voice will help us do that.

LISA MILLAR: No doubt we will speak much more after Saturday. Minister Clare O'Neill, thank you for joining us.

CLARE O'NEIL: Thanks for having me.