Thirteen women and children linked to Islamic State fighters set to return to Australia from Syria
Tom McIlroy
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has confirmed 13 members of the Australian families linked to Islamic State fighters in Syria are set to travel home to Australia.
The four women and nine children are expected in the country very soon.
“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” Burke said.
As we have said many times – any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law.
Our world-class law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been preparing for their return since 2014 and have longstanding plans in place to manage and monitor them.
Burke says the group have received no assistance from the government.
Key events
Jordyn Beazley
Alleged Bondi terror attacker to face 19 extra charges
Naveed Akram faces fresh charges for his alleged role as a gunman in the Bondi terror attack, taking the total number of charges against him to 78.
Akram, 24, and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, allegedly murdered 15 people after opening fire at a Hanukah festival at Bondi beach on 14 December.
Akram, who survived a shootout with police, was charged in December with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act that investigators allege may have been “inspired by Isis”. Sajid Akram was shot and killed by police at the scene.
Tory Shepherd
First witness at antisemitism royal commission shares testimony
The first witness on the stand at today’s antisemitism royal commission is using the pseudonym AAQ.
She’s a public high school teacher in Tasmania who is concerned the curriculum does not focus enough on the Holocaust, antisemitism and Nazi ideology, and about the use of the book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which she says is ”historically inaccurate” and centres on Germans’ suffering rather than Jewish victims.
She also said students graffitied swastikas around the school, showed a “fascination” with Hitler, and bullied a Jewish student and their sibling to the point they left the state. She says:
They’d be performing a Nazi salute to each other in classrooms or hallways or in the schoolyard, you would see fingers under their noses to emulate Hitler’s moustache.
She said students would gaslight her if she called them out and claim not to know what it meant.
“Nothing was done,” she says, when she raised the issue with leaders. The principal spoke to the students once after antisemitic comments. “The implication was that I was being emotional,” she said.
Students also parroted tropes they had seen online about Israel and about Jewish people, she says, and it got worse after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
A Holocaust survivor who had been well received when he previously spoke at the school was met with “boorish” behaviour from students when he returned in 2024.
“They were essentially blaming him for what was happening over there [in Israel],” she said, adding that some parents were “irate” that a Jewish person spoke at the school.
Angus Taylor says fuel reserve announcement ‘too little, too late’
Angus Taylor, the opposition leader, says the new announcement about a 1bn litre, government-owned fuel reserve is “too little, too late”.
He said:
We need more fuel stocks, I’ve said that very plainly. … The government needs to get on with it.
Taylor said the Coalition wants to see fuel reserves at 60 days of supply, on the way towards “90 days that we want to see”.
Duniam says government should do ‘everything’ it can to stop Islamic State-linked Australians from coming back
Jonno Duniam, the shadow home affairs minister, said earlier the government has “one last chance” to revoke the travel documents of the Australians in Syria with links to Islamic State fighters.
Burke has maintained today the government has extreme limits to what it can do aside from temporary exclusion orders, which have a very high threshold. Only one person in the cohort has been subject to such an order.
Still, Duniam said:
I say this government has one last chance before these people board planes back to Australia to revoke their travel documents, to apply temporary exclusion orders. Australians are not feeling safe now, we know that. …
If there is a chance to stop them, we should do everything we can to stop it.
Albanese says Australians linked to Islamic State fighters will receive no help and face full force of the law
Albanese was just asked about the cohort of Australians linked to Islamic State fighters who are planning to return home. The prime minister said:
These are people who’ve made what is a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and a have placed their children in an extraordinary situation.
As we’ve said many times, any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law, and that will occur.
Chris Bowen, the energy minister, said the new reserves are a “big change” for Australia. He went on:
This is a big change in our approach as a country and a good one.
He said the 1bn litre stockpile, owned by the government, will build on increased minimum stock obligations in the private sector. The focus will be on jet fuel and diesel to prepare for the “worst circumstances”.
Budget to include $10bn package to ensure fuel and fertiliser security, including permanent reserve of 1bn litres
Anthony Albanese is speaking now in Sydney, saying the government is continuing its work to tackle the ongoing fuel crisis.
Albanese said the budget will include a more than $10bn package to ensure fuel and fertiliser security, including a permanent, government-owned fuel security reserve of about 1bn litres.
This will support an overall expansion of Australia’s onshore fuel reserves to ensure at least 50 days of fuel supply and storage of diesel and aviation fuel.
Albanese added:
We have worked relentlessly to secure our fuel supply lines. So far we are faring well.
High court appeal against NZYQ removal to Nauru dismissed
Sarah Basford Canales
An elderly Iranian man’s appeal in the high court against being sent to Nauru has been dismissed.
This morning, the high court bench unanimously dismissed the challenge to the Albanese government’s arrangement with Nauru to send members of the NZYQ cohort there on 30-year visas.
Lawyers for the man, who was one of the first three announced in February 2025 for resettlement in Nauru, had argued his deportation could result in his “imminent” and “preventable” death due to the tiny Pacific island’s limited health facilities.
You can read more about that here:
They had also argued Australia’s $2.5bn deal with Nauru to send NZYQ-affected people to Nauru was unconstitutional.
We’ll have more once we work through the judgment’s reasons.
At least 350 non-citizens have been released into the community since the high court ruled in November 2023 Australia could not keep non-citizens indefinitely detained.
Many of the cohort’s visas have been cancelled as a result of criminal convictions but they cannot be returned to their country of origin because they are stateless or face persecution.
Jordyn Beazley
Survivors in the Bondi terror attack to have a formal application made to suppress their identities
Prosecutors in the case against alleged Bondi terror attack gunmen Naveed Akram will make a formal application next month to suppress the identities of dozens of complainants and some survivors.
In December, the court granted an interim suppression order protecting the identities of a number of survivors of the attack unless they give their consent.
More survivors also applied have their identities protected after Crown prosecutors applied to vary the suppression order in the Downing Centre local court last month.
The commonwealth prosecutor told the Downing Centre local court on Wednesday that, since taking over the case from NSW police, prosecutors had “endeavoured to contact each of the complainants ourselves directly to ascertain their views on the ongoing extension of the orders”.
The prosector requested a half-day long hearing on 10 June – pending confirmation from the registry this date is available – to make a formal application to suppress the identities of dozens of complainants and some survivors. She told the court that some of the survivors are children, who will already be protected from being identified.
Judge Susan McItnyre agreed to extend the non-publication order before a formal hearing is set.
Matthew Lewis, who appeared on behalf of five media publications – including Guardian Australia – could not confirm yet whether the media would oppose the application. He said:
No evidence has been served so can’t speculate whether we will or not.
Akram, 24, and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, allegedly killed 15 people after opening fire at a Hanukah festival at Bondi beach on 14 December.
Akram, who survived a shootout with police, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act that investigators allege may have been “inspired by Isis”. Sajid Akram was shot and killed by police at the scene.
AFP chief says some returning IS-linked family members will be charged
Krissy Barrett, the commissioner of the AFP, said planning surrounding the return of Australians linked to the Islamic State began in 2015, with investigators collecting evidence for more than a decade. She said:
That evidence and information was to determine whether Australians who travelled to Syria may have committed commonwealth offences, including terrorism offences, such as entering or remaining in declared areas, and crimes against humanity offences such as engaging in slave trading.
Barrett would not flag how many people would be arrested or when they will be arrested to protect the investigation. She said, however:
Some individuals will be arrested and charged. Some will face continued investigations when they arrive in Australia.
And children who return in the cohort will be asked to undergo community integration programs, therapeutic support and countering violent extremist programs.
Australians need to know that law enforcement and security agencies are doing everything they can to keep them safe and … that individuals are held to account for their actions.
Tony Burke says there are ‘very serious limits’ on how citizens can be blocked from returning home
Burke said there are “very serious limits” on what the country can do to block a citizen from returning home.
He said he received one advice where an individual met the requirements for a temporary exclusion order and he acted immediately with regards to that person.
Asio director general ‘extremely concerned’ by young people being radicalised online
Mike Burgess, the director general of Asio, said he remains “extremely concerned” about the number of young people, particularly young men, who are being radicalised online.
He said:
People who self-radicalise online often show few, if any, real world indicators they’re mobilising the violence. Online operations are often the only way we can have identifying and engaging with these individuals, so we can understand their intent, their capability, their identity and their targets.
Burgess said the most likely act of politically motivated violence would occur with “little to no warning” and in ways “that are difficult to attack”. Australia’s national terrorism threat level remains at probable.
Tony Burke says government ‘is not assisting’ Islamic State-linked families
In regards to the Islamic State-linked families, Burke had this to say:
The government is not repatriating and will not repatriate. The government is not assisting and will not assist these individuals.
They made an appalling, disgraceful decision. If any of these individuals find their way back to Australia, if they have committed crimes, they can expect to face the full force of the law, without exception.
Tony Burke is speaking now, starting with the $74m announcement for a counter-terrorism online centre, part of the government’s response to the Bondi terror attack.
Burke pointed to new laws created in 2024 to target the distribution or possession of online radicalised material or violent extremist material. He said the Australian federal police had put in 31 charges since the laws were put in place, 19 of which involved minors. He added:
This feature of young people being radicalised fast online is real.
Establishing the centre is the next logical step in being able to make sure that our agencies can work together, to be able to deal with a threat that is already there, that is continuing to emerge.
We now need to have a centre that deals with online radicalisation and that’s what we announced today.
You can read more about those laws in this story by Ariel Bogle and Nico Bucci here:
