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TRANSCRIPT
- The Federal Opposition says passports should not have been issued to women and children with links to IS fighters
- Australia's unemployment rate remains stable
- Mary Fowler named in the Matildas squad for next month's Asian Cup.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has nothing but contempt for eleven Australian women with links to IS group fighters.
The women and 23 children are trying to return to Australia from Syria but the government says it will not be offering any repatriation assistance.
One member of the group has been issued with a temporary exclusion order which bars her from entering Australia for up to two years.
Anthony Albanese has told the ABC he holds the parents of the children in contempt.
"The government is providing no support for the repatriation of these people or any support whatsoever. I have nothing but contempt for these people."
Interviewer: "Hold on prime minister, some of these are children, Australian children, 23 children. Do you have contempt for them?"
Albanese: "I have contempt for their parents who have put these children in that situation."
The Federal Opposition says the entire group is a security threat.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonathon Duniam says none of them should have been given Australian passports.
"So the Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, the Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke and the prime minister can explain to us all today how it is that they've deemed the return of thse people by granting them passports, providing them assistance, is in our national interest."
A New South Wales MP has criticised Pauline Hanson's for her anti-Muslim comments saying she's spent the past 30 years looking to divide people.
Senator Hanson told Sky News on Monday night that "there were no good Muslims out there".
She has since issued a partial and heavily qualified apology.
The Member for Bankstown, Jihad Dib, criticised Senator Hanson when asked about the latest threatening letter sent to the Lakemba Mosque on the eve of Ramadan.
The letter included a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill Muslims.
Mr Dib says Senator Hanson's language is harmful.
"This sort of behaviour has impacts and this language has impacts. This is the way that she wants to do it. I think many of us should be better than that. The impact, of course, on community is one of hurt and one of sadness and it affects them but my goodness there are so many more great Australians who are coming out and just saying 'we stand shoulder to shoulder with you'. Our Australia is one where every single person belongs."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says there's a direct link between Pauline Hanson's commentary and Islamophobia.
He says her rhetoric legitimises and mainstreams it.
Australia's unemployment rate has remained stable at 4.1 per cent in January in seasonally adjusted terms.
The number of people with jobs increased by 17,800.
While full-time employment rose by 50,000, there was a fall of 33,000 people in part-time jobs.
Meanwhile, yesterday's wage data showed annual growth at 3.4 per cent, lagging behind 3.8 per cent inflation and marking the first real wage drop since September 2023.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says inflation is expected to peak mid-year before easing.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has told a US court he stands by a previous statement he made that the existing body of scientific work has not proved social media causes mental health harms.
Lawyers for a now 20-year-old woman are arguing the opposite, claiming her use of social media at an early age addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts.
TikTok and Snap have reached settlements with the woman but Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are contesting the claims.
Speaking ahead of the trial, lawyer Matthew Bergman says Meta's own internal documents reveal it knew Instagram addicted young people.
"Showing them not what they want to see but what they can't look away from. And their own documents show that, showing that one third of kids who use Instagram feel worse about themselves for doing that. Time and time again, the documents show that Meta and its personnel were provided with an opportunity to take a choice between protecting kids or protecting its profits and each time they protected their profits."
Matildas coach Joe Montemurro has named a 26-player squad for the Women's Asian Cup which is being hosted in Australia next month.
The opening game is against the Philippines in Perth on March 1.
Sam Kerr will be captain while Steph Catley and Ellie Carpenter have been named vice-captains.
Joe Montemurro says Mary Fowler will be fit to play after recovering from an ACL injury.
He says she has only just returned to her club side Manchester City.
