Australian news and politics live: Temporary ban imposed on ‘ISIS bride’, blocking her return from Syria

Anthony Albanese says he’ll lobby Laotian prime minister for justice over the 2024 deaths of two Australian teens from methanol-poisoning while backpacking in the south-east Asian nation.

Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca Jones, both aged 19, died after a mass methanol poisoning incident during a night out at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng on November 13.

The Prime Minister confirmed on Wednesday he would hold talks with Sonexay Siphandone after 10 people linked to the hostel and convicted of destroying evidence were fined less than $200 earlier this month.

Speaking on Melbourne radio station 3AW on Wednesday, Mr Albanese admitted that Canberra could have “done better” in keeping families up to date with the process.

“Certainly, DFAT needed to have done better, and we made that clear to them, but they’re seeking justice,” the PM said.

“My heart breaks. No one should lose their child in any circumstance, let alone under these circumstances.

“I agreed with them that I would talk directly to the prime minister of Laos, and we’ll be trying to establish that at this stage.

“That discussion will take place next week, just to assert Australia’s very clear position that we want justice to be done here.”

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Liberal Senator David Sharma says the Albanese Government only acted on a so-called “ISIS bride” after coming under political pressure, after the Home Affairs Minister announced a temporary ban on one woman wishing to return from Syria.

“The security interests of Australians and Australians who live here should be put first here. I think the Government has only acted because they came under political pressure,” he told ABC TV.

“If you look at their actions in the past, they have tried to allow these people to return home on the quiet without declaring to the public who they are, whether a security agency has made an active assessment about a temporary exclusion order or any other number of considerations.

“I would raise one more point, Anthony Albanese has been saying these people have been issued passports because it’s the normal course of the law. Well, section 14 of the passports act makes clear there’s discretion to refuse the granting of a passport if that person may prejudice the security of Australians. That discretion is there. That discretion has not been exercised.”

ACT Policing has confirmed two people allegedly threw rocks and a suspicious item at a hotel hosting a major defence conference in Canberra on Wednesday.

“About 9am this morning, police responded to reports of a disturbance at a hotel on Commonwealth Avenue,” a police spokesperson said.

“Police believe two people threw rocks and a suspicious item at the building, causing minor property damage. No injuries were reported to police.

“The item was seized by the AFP Bomb Response Team and it was determined the item was not an explosive device.

“About 12pm, police conducting a search of the hotel located unattended backpacks in a conference room.

“Occupants were removed from the room to another part of the hotel while it was searched and the bag was assessed.

“About 12.30pm, the bags were deemed to not be suspicious and the owners were located.”

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A temporary exclusion order has been placed on one of the Australian women previously linked to ISIS, blocking her from returning from Syria.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the decision, saying security agencies had advised the Government to act in relation to one individual within the group.

“I can confirm that one individual in this cohort has been issued a temporary exclusion order, which was made on advice from security agencies,” he said.

“At this stage security agencies have not provided advice that other members of the cohort meet the required legal thresholds for temporary exclusion orders.”

The development comes as 11 women with alleged ISIS links and 23 children currently held in the Roj detention camp in northeast Syria seek approval to travel to Damascus in a bid to secure flights back to Australia.

The group is being assisted on the ground by prominent Sydney doctor Jamal Rifi, who is understood to be a friend of Mr Burke.

Mr Burke said he had not discussed the matter with Dr Rifi.

“I have no information other than what I’ve seen in the media about whether Dr Jamal Rifi is in Australia or overseas. He has not discussed any plans with me, nor would he have any reason to,” Mr Burke said.

Workers have seen their pay levels go backwards compared with inflation for the first time since late 2023, unless they’re a public servant.

Despite the bad news for most workers, Treasurer Jim Chalmers hailed the result as a triumph, noting the wage price index had been above 3 per cent for 14 straight quarters, which in the December quarter was meaningless when it lagged behind inflation.

“So, 14 quarters in a row where we’ve seen wages growth north of three per cent - didn’t happen once in annual terms in the 35 quarters of our predecessors,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

“Of course, with inflation higher than we’d like, that has implications for the real wages calculation but the overwhelming story of this Labor government has been real wages growth.”

He made the claim even though overall pay levels have now gone backwards in seven of the 15 quarters since Labor came to power in May 2022 on a campaign built around getting wages moving again.

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A protest calling on the Government to “sanction Israel” and “cut all ties with organisations complicit in genocide” had been planned for later on Wednesday, with it currently unclear if it is linked to the two incidents that have already rocked a Canberra defence conference.

Details of a planned protest were published online prior to the conference, claiming to be hosted by Students and Staff Against War ANU and Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN).

A page published on the website Green Left said the protest would also call on the Government to “remove restrictions on Palestine protests and on the right to criticise Israel”.

The event was advertised to commence from 4.30pm, with it currently unclear if the incidents are linked to the plan.

Police have cleared a conference room in Canberra during a speech by Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy, after the apparent discovery of a suspicious package.

Mr Conroy was addressing the ADM conference at Canberra’s historic Hyatt Hotel when hundreds of delegates were told by police to leave.

Earlier in the day, protestors smashed a window at the venue during a speech by Navy Chief Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, causing panic among attendees.

That incident prompted the Prime Minister to again urge people to “turn the temperature down across society”.

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One Nation WA leader Rod Caddies has issued a statement after one of his former candidates shared a name with the man who allegedly threw a bomb at Australia Day protesters in Perth.

He said the alleged Australia Day terrorist “Liam Alexander Hall is not the same person as Liam Christopher Hall who ran for One Nation WA at the 2025 state election,” Mr Caddies said.

His candidate had run in State Labor Minister Paul Papalia’s seat of Secret Harbour for One Nation and won 8.4 per cent of the primary vote.

“I have been in contact with Liam the candidate, and he is aware that some people are making the link, and he is monitoring the situation” Mr Caddies said urging caution to the media and public.

“Our candidate Liam is a fine member of the community and does not deserve any sort of negative attention just because he has the same first and last names as someone else.”

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Australian workers have seen their pay levels go backwards and lag behind inflation for the first time in more than two years, calling into question Labor’s promise of getting wages moving again.

The wage price index edged by up just 3.4 per cent last year as the consumer price index soared to 3.8 per cent.

Adjusted for inflation, real wages went backwards by 0.4 per cent, marking the first cut to pay levels since the September quarter of 2023 during a period when the Reserve Bank was still planning another interest rate rise.

Pay levels have now gone backwards in seven of the 14 quarters since Labor came to power in May 2022 on a campaign built around getting wages moving again.

Under the previous Coalition government, wages went backwards for five consecutive quarters from mid-2021, when Sydney and Melbourne were in lockdown.

In Opposition, shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers, industrial relations spokesman Tony Burke and Labor’s deputy leader Richard Marles in February 2022 taunted then Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison about workers suffering cuts in real wages in late 2021, after wages had been outpaced by inflation for the third consecutive quarter.

“This confirms again that Scott Morrison is the Prime Minister for higher prices, lower real wages and working families going backwards,” they said in a statement.

Anthony Albanese says he’s “personally pleased” after WA courts lifted a suppression order on the name of a man who allegedly threw a bomb at Australia Day protesters in Perth.

Police allege 32-year-old Warwick man Liam Alexander Hall threw a glass container with three explosive liquids, and wrapped it in ball bearings and screws at a crowd of 2500 demonstrators.

He has since been charged with the State’s first terrorism offence. It marked an upgrade from his initial charge of making an explosive under suspicious circumstances and endangering the life, health and safety of others.

While in Tasmania on Wednesday, Mr Albanese was asked his thoughts on the lifting of a suppression order prohibiting the publication of any identifying particulars.

“It is a matter of course for the courts. We have an independent process in Australia of a separation of the political system from the judiciary, but personally, I am pleased,” he said.

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