Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese says Australia won’t repatriate ISIS-linked children

Anthony Albanese is holding a ministry meeting in Melbourne this afternoon, with Premier Jacinta Allan as an invited guest.

The Prime Minister tells her she’s very welcome, and says that Victoria “missed out for too long” on infrastructure funding.

Ms Allan said it meant a lot to hear the nation’s leader acknowledge that.

“If you look at this great city – apologies to our New South Wales friends – we are the biggest city, we’re pretty soon going to be the biggest city in the nation, population-wise, but we’ve got a partner in Canberra that’s delivering those projects to back that growth,” she said.

Neither leader mentioned the CFMEU.

A Sydney man has been charged with terrorism offences after phones and electronic devices seized by police during a vehicle stop were found to allegedly contain “violent extremist material”.

The 31-year-old was pulled over by officers attached to State Crime Command’s Raptor Squad traffic and highway patrol on December 31 in Yagoona, a suburb in the city’s southwest.

A search of the Toyota sedan allegedly uncovered drugs, cash and three mobile phones.

The man was arrested and initially charged with supply prohibited drug, recklessly deal with proceeds of crime less than $5000 and use light vehicle not comply with standard – other.

He was refused bail and faced Bail Division Local Court 7 on January 1, where he was granted conditional bail.

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Pressed on the issue, Taylor said those who left Australia to support ISIS should not be allowed back into the country.

“The fact of the matter is, these people are supporters of ISIS. They went to another country to support ISIS, and shouldn’t be coming back into the country. It includes these families. I’ve been clear about that.”

He also rejected suggestions that children could be brought back without their parents.

“There’s no proposal to bring the children back without. Let’s be clear about that...These people left Australia, they left Australia to support a terrorist organisation that has heinous views, a heinous ideology, completely at odds with what we believe with our way of life, and they shouldn’t be allowed back in.”

Speaking on the Gold Coast, Mr Taylor argued the government must take stronger steps to prevent individuals he claims reject Australian values from returning.

“If this person is going to bring hatred and to our part of the world, does not accept our way of life, does not accept our core beliefs, the Government should be doing everything it can to stop them from coming back. And if we need to work with the government and pass legislation, to tighten legislation, to make sure that they can’t come back, we will do that.”

“I was clear about this on day one in this role. We need to see this Government shut the door.”

Asked whether Australian citizens have a right to return home, Mr Taylor responded:

“I don’t believe people who want to bring hate and violence from another part of the world to Australia – people who do not believe in our core beliefs – should be coming into the country. It’s as simple as that. This government has not answered the most basic questions about why these people are coming back to Australia.”

Mr Taylor’s comments come amid ongoing debate over the fate of dozens of Australian-linked women and children currently held in detention camps in Syria.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan faced a tense showdown with a reporter during a press conference on Thursday morning amid the growing CFMEU corruption scandal.

The confrontation began when Channel 10’s Jess Maggio suggested Ms Allan “looked disinterested” while responding to questions about victims of alleged CFMEU violence.

In response to Ms Allan’s advice that victims should contact Victoria Police, Ms Maggio said the people she spoke to were too afraid to come forward.

“They don’t feel they can report it because they have already uprooted their lives for fear of people that are no longer in the CFMEU, but are controlling the CFMEU,” she said.

“You look disinterested.”

Ms Allan immediately demanded a retraction before answering further questions.

“Can I ask that you retract that last comment,” she said.

“Well, Premier, I’m sorry, but—” Ms Maggio replied.

“No, no, no, you’re not … For this press conference to continue, I ask that you retract that last observation. I was merely considering my answer to your question,” Ms Allan said.

“I’m happy to answer other people’s questions, but I can’t unless I have that very clear statement that this allegation of how I was behaving is retracted.

“It’s up to you, if you’d only do it … I’ll take your silence as agreement that you have retracted your statement.”

The clash comes as Ms Allan faces intense scrutiny following the explosive report revealing that Big Build construction sites had become hubs for drug trafficking, bikie gang activity, systemic corruption, and sexual exploitation, costing Victorian taxpayers $15 billion.

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The Aussie jobs market has posted a solid start to 2026, with the unemployment rate steady at 4.1 per cent in January — a number that will not ease the Reserve Bank’s concerns about inflation.

That was unchanged from December, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Employment lifted by 18,000 through the month, a little less than analysts had expected.

Some Australians who can’t find jobs appear to be leaving the market altogether, with a modest decline in the proportion of working age Australians in the labour force, down 0.6 percentage points from the peak in January 2025 to 66.7 per cent.

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Anthony Albanese has defended Nine News sports reporter Danika Mason after controversy over her awkward live cross from the Winter Olympics.

The reporter apologised to audiences for drinking before her live appearance from Livigno on the Today Show, which sparked widespread attention online.

Asked about it on radio on Thursday, Mr Albanese said he had watched the footage.

“I’m pro Danika. Good on her. She’s over in Italy… and she would have been tired. It’s the time difference, would have been having an impact. Nothing to see here,” he said.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has called for a group of so-called ISIS brides stranded in Syria to be returned home to Australia declaring the government’s decision not to help as “pretty disgraceful”.

The cohort of 11 Australian families is attempting to leave a detention camp in the country’s northeast, but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has slapped a Temporary Exclusion Order on one of the women.

Senator Faruqi has told the ABC any issues related to the women and children should be dealt with in the Australian legal system.

“These are Australian citizens. They need to be brought back and the concerns should be dealt with in Australia”.

“These people have been left to languish in refugee camps for too long. If there are concerns, they need to be brought back and these are people Australia can’t just turn into stateless people,” she says.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has continued her attack on Muslims, calling Islam a “religion of hate” and opposing Muslim women coming to Australia to have “child after child at taxpayers’ expense”.

Her latest comments follow days of criticism after the Queensland Senator questioned in a Sky News TV interview on Monday if “good Muslims” exist.

Senator Hanson undertook a mini media blitz on Tuesday and Wednesday where she made a partial apology but remained firm in her stance against radical Islam and tough borders.

But during a fiery interview on Sky News with Chris Kenny on Wednesday evening Senator Hanson further inflamed her previous commentary.

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Anthony Albanese is digging in on the Government’s position of not assisting with the repatriation of a cohort of ISIS-linked families back to Australia, claiming the parents were responsible for the “position” of their children.

The Prime Minister said it was not possible to only repatriate 23 children, without their mothers.

“I have contempt for their parents who have put these children in that situation,” Mr Albanese said on Thursday.

“We have a firm position, which is that the mothers in this case who made this decision to travel overseas against Australia’s national interest, are the responsible ones who’ve put their children in this position.”

“We can’t bring the children back without their mothers.”