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One person in Syrian group temporarily banned from Australia
Josh Butler
Home affairs minister Tony Burke has announced one person among the group of 34 Australian women and children in a Syrian detention camp has been issued with a temporary exclusion order, banning them from coming to Australia for up to two years.
The group - the wives, widows and children of ISIS fighters - have been attempting to leave the al-Roj camp on Monday, but were turned back. The government has faced criticism and questions over how it has responded to the group, but Albanese government ministers have said they’re not providing repatriation or assistance to the group.
Burke has been taking advice from security agencies as to whether any should be subject to a temporary exclusion order, which can be levelled on Australian citizens if the minister “suspects on reasonable grounds” that such an order would prevent a terrorist act or supporting a terror group.
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Burke confirmed one TEO had been issued, but that others in the group have not been assessed to meet the necessary threshold. He said:
I can confirm that one individual in this cohort has been issued a Temporary Exclusion Order, which was made on advice from security agencies. At this stage security agencies have not provided advice that other members of the cohort meet the required legal thresholds for temporary exclusion orders.
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Army base in Townsville lifts lockdown after ‘incident’ at barracks
Australia’s defence force is launching an investigation after a major army base in Queensland’s north went into lockdown earlier today.
The defence force confirmed Townsville’s Lavarack Barracks faced an “incident” today that required personnel to enact security protocols. It declined to specify the nature of the incident.
A defence spokesperson said Queensland police attended the barracks and the incident was resolved with “minimal impact” to personnel and operations at the base. They added:
Defence treats all security matters seriously and will conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
Lavarack Barracks is one of northern Australia’s major military establishments, the home base of elements of multiple brigades as well as Singapore armed forces personnel.
Luca Ittimani
Thanks Nick Visser, and good afternoon readers. Let’s get on to the rest of today’s breaking news.
Nick Visser
Thanks all, that’s it from me. Luca Ittimani will take things from here.
Video: helicopter crew sounds siren as 4.5-metre white shark spotted off WA coast
A 4.5-metre white shark was spotted off Cape Naturaliste on Sunday. Lifesaving Western Australia posted the video on their Facebook page, saying the crew on the Westpac Life Saver rescue helicopter saw the shark circling two divers.
The divers were alerted and exited the water.
Two people found dead inside home in Rockhampton
Queensland police are investigating the deaths of two people found inside a home in Wandal, a suburb of Rockhampton, on Tuesday night.
Officials said they were called to an address to carry out a welfare check around 8pm last night. On arrival, a woman, 76, and man, 37 were found dead.
A crime scene has been established and investigations are ongoing.
Chris Minns accuses Pauline Hanson of ‘racist intervention’
Minns added he wanted to make it clear, “particularly after the racist intervention of Pauline Hanson in recent days” that “New South Wales is full of wonderful, great Australians of Muslim faith who care about our country”.
The NSW premier said:
The police are there for every Australian in need. The last two months have shown that they will place their own safety at risk to protect another Australian. They have a major role in security for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan so that our Muslim communities are safe and can celebrate their religion in peace and security.
NSW premier hopes Ramadan a period of ‘happiness, family and community’
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has said he hopes the Ramadan holy month is a time of “happiness, family and community” for the state’s Muslim community following a protest earlier this month at Sydney’s Town Hall.
Minns said he had met with many Muslim leaders over the last week, saying they were “difficult conversations” after NSW police officers disrupted a group of men praying during the protest against Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia.
The Muslim community have told me of their sadness and hurt following the events of last Monday night.
I said privately what I have said publicly: that NSW police would never have intentionally interrupted a prayer service or religious observance, that it was an incredible difficult event to police, but no offence was intended.
The premier said he agreed there were steps “we can all take” to ensure that the events during the protest don’t happen again, “so our community is not wrenched apart as a result of protests, international conflict or disharmony”.
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Race commissioner calls on Pauline Hanson to apologise to Muslim community
Tom McIlroy
Australia’s race discrimination commissioner says One Nation leader Pauline Hanson should apologise for her comments about the Muslim community, calling them “Islamophobic”.
Giridharan Sivaraman said the comments on Sky News on Monday – in which Hanson said she didn’t know any “good Muslims” – were offensive and would cause lasting damage.
“I hesitate to respond to remarks like these because doing so risks giving further oxygen to sentiments that should have no place in our public debate,” he said, going on:
But comments that single out and diminish any community have real and lasting impacts.
Words that stigmatise and devalue people do not strengthen our society. They increase fear, deepen division, and intensify pain and harm that many in our communities have experienced for far too long.
Sivaraman challenged political leaders talking about the importance of social cohesion to take action.
Australia’s Muslim communities – like all our communities – deserve to feel safe, respected and included. Public figures have a responsibility to elevate our national conversation, not inflame tensions, divide us or undermine the dignity of others.
I call on Senator Hanson to withdraw her remarks and offer an apology to Muslim Australians.
Andrew Messenger
Crisafulli says hate speech bill will ‘stand the test of time’
David Crisafulli has wrapped up his press club address after a question on his government’s hate speech bill.
The laws, which will also deal with a national push for gun reform, will give the attorney general the power to ban particular political slogans. She has said she intends to ban only two: “from the river to the sea” and “globalise the intifada”.
Crisafulli was asked whether he had consulted with Muslim communities concerned about their right to protest being restricted and whether he would consider tightening the legislation to make it apply more narrowly to incitements to violence or hatred rather than just “offence”.
He said the bill was already tight and would “stand the test of time”.
“I think as people go through they will see that those arguments don’t hold water and that it’s tight,” he said.
Crisafulli was also asked if he had consulted on the two specific phrases to be proscribed under the legislation:
There’s only two phrases that put in there, deliberately. We put the two that were the ones that were most inciteful towards hatred and we wanted to deal with that antisemitism.
A parliamentary committee will consider the legislation for 17 days, including a 7 day window for public submissions.
