Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles confirmed intentions for the deployment on 13 May. The deployment alongside allies under the multinational freedom of navigation operations follows a recent meeting of defence ministers from more than 40 countries.

In its Australian Aviation Network Overview report for April 2026, Airservices Australia revealed Australia saw 2,475 daily average passenger flights last month, up just 0.2 per cent on the previous year, with domestic regional flights dropping by 4.1 per cent.

From January next year, the tax, which is applied to all airfares and cruise tickets leaving the country, will increase from $70 to $80 in what Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond has labelled “an absolute shocker for the tourism industry”.

Around 150 employees at Sydney and Brisbane Airports, currently employed by Qantas subsidiaries Eastern and Sunstate, would be affected by the new arrangements, which the union says would bump their pay by around 30 per cent and “close a long-standing loophole” that lowered wages.