Australia politics live: Liberal MP ejected from question time as women and children in Syrian camp dominate debate | Australia news
Liberal Aaron Violi kicked out of chamber under 94a amid debate on Syria camp
Nationals leader David Littleproud gets the call next and asks the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, when he last spoke to Dr Jamal Rifi about the women and children in a Syrian detention camp.
Rifi, who has publicly supported Burke, has been trying to help repatriate the group.
Burke begins saying “It would be many, many months since I’ve had a conversation with Dr Jamal Rifi on that issue.”
Before he gets any further, Aaron Violi, who just got a promotion to the frontbench and probably hasn’t had much of a chance to get comfortable in the new seat, is booted out of the chamber by the Speaker for talking too much!
Burke continues:
double quotation mark What followed the last time that I think Dr Jamal Rifi was present at a meeting on this issue, what followed was a letter from Save the Children, who were also at that meeting, which included this sentence “We are deeply disappointed with this decision to refuse assistance to Australians in trouble overseas.
Key events
Some birthday generosity for Albanese and Chalmers
While Violi didn’t get much slack from the Speaker, Milton Dick is feeling a little more generous towards the treasurer.
During a dixer to Jim Chalmers, the opposition makes a point of order that the question on budget sustainability “didn’t ask for an impression of Keating where he just goes on the attack”.
Dick says he’s feeling generous because it’s Anthony Albanese and Chalmers’ birthdays – that’s right, the PM and treasurer share a birthday (as well as it being Albanese’s 30th anniversary of being elected to parliament).
He then tells Chalmers to be relevant.
Chalmers uses the extra room to take a swipe at Angus Taylor:
double quotation mark The member for Hume [Taylor] is the economic and political genius who is responsible for the mess that they are in now. By electing him their leader they have shown they haven’t learned a thing and they haven’t changed a bit.
Liberal Aaron Violi kicked out of chamber under 94a amid debate on Syria camp
Nationals leader David Littleproud gets the call next and asks the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, when he last spoke to Dr Jamal Rifi about the women and children in a Syrian detention camp.
Rifi, who has publicly supported Burke, has been trying to help repatriate the group.
Burke begins saying “It would be many, many months since I’ve had a conversation with Dr Jamal Rifi on that issue.”
Before he gets any further, Aaron Violi, who just got a promotion to the frontbench and probably hasn’t had much of a chance to get comfortable in the new seat, is booted out of the chamber by the Speaker for talking too much!
Burke continues:
double quotation mark What followed the last time that I think Dr Jamal Rifi was present at a meeting on this issue, what followed was a letter from Save the Children, who were also at that meeting, which included this sentence “We are deeply disappointed with this decision to refuse assistance to Australians in trouble overseas.
Independent asks government to buy locomotive workshop
To the crossbench, the member for Calare, Andrew Gee, asks if the government will buy the Lithgow locomotive workshop in his electorate in regional NSW that he says is a “critical piece of railway infrastructure”, instead of allowing it to be sold to a property developer.
Anthony Albanese avoids a concrete answer.
He says his government is supporting local manufacturing and rail infrastructure through the national reconstruction fund. He adds that the government has been working with states and territories to increase coordination on Australian manufacturing.
There’s no commitment to buy the locomotive workshop.
double quotation mark I do note that this is a Pacific national asset and Sydney trains operate the line there.The government is supporting a future made in Australia through our National Reconstruction Fund, supporting our local manufacturing sector. We are continuing to progress work through a variety of mechanisms, including the national rail action plan.
Hastie returns, continues questioning on women and children in Syria
Andrew Hastie is back on the frontbench, and continues the opposition’s line of questioning on the women and children in Syrian detention camps.
He asks what the government committed to at a meeting of Save the Children last year, after meeting notes were provided to the Senate.
Home affairs minister Tony Burke gets a bit cranky, as he – like the prime minister – says that the evidence “clearly shows” there has been no repatriation of the 34 women and children.
double quotation mark This government has made sure that we have not in any way – in any way – provided any form of support for these individuals. That is why the meetings were followed with a letter from Save the Children complaining that the government had refused to offer any support.
Question time begins with opposition leads attack over women and children in Syrian camp
Angus Taylor begins his first question time as leader attacking the government on the Australian women and children trying to leave a Syrian detention camp.
He asks if the PM will confirm that no one in the government or departments expedited the issuing of Australian passports to the group.
Anthony Albanese begins quoting none other than former opposition leader Peter Dutton.
double quotation mark There are Australian citizens, they now have an entitlement and a right to come back to our country. There is no silver bullet. They are not my words. They are the words of that “soft person” Peter Dutton.We don’t want media attention to some individual cases. I don’t want cameras parked out the front of schools or people scrutinised as they go into a mosque. Guess who that was? Peter Dutton.
The opposition doesn’t like that, and tries to get the PM to answer their question more specifically on the issuing of passports.
Albanese continues:
double quotation mark We are not repatriating these people. We have made it clear … The hypocrisy on this is extraordinary, given that 40 people came home on their watch.
Albanese celebrates Australia’s most successful winter Olympics
Before we get to question time, Speaker Milton Dick says he received Sussan Ley’s letter of resignation from parliament.
Anthony Albanese says he offered Ley the opportunity for a valedictory speech, and that she showed “grace and dignity” despite the difficulties she faced.
Following that, Albanese also does a little victory lap on behalf of Australia’s winter Olympians for the most successful campaign ever!
double quotation mark The efforts of every single Australian Olympian are a credit to their extraordinary dedication and drive … Olympians make incredible sacrifices to pursue their dream and they don’t do it by themselves. They do it with the support of loved ones, with the support of their family, teammates but they also do it with the support of Australia.
New leader Angus Taylor also joins Albanese celebrating the winter Olympians.
‘I just want to be free’: Australian children held in Syrian camp reveal their hopes and dreams
Guardian reporters have spent time on the ground at the al-Roj detention camp in Syria, speaking to multiple children stuck there.
Despite the opposition’s accusations, some of the children are as young as six years old, and have described their desperation to get out of the camp that most have spent their entire lives in after their parents travelled to Syria.
There are 23 Australian children and 11 Australian women held in the detention camp.
You can read more from my colleague William Christou below:
Duniam says government doesn’t know what sort of risk ‘so-called children’ pose
Jonathan Duniam is asked whether the mothers and children of the group should be split, and just the children returned.
The press are piling some pressure on the opposition over their claims that the children are “Isis sympathisers”.
Duniam digs in, and suggests some of the children should also face temporary exclusion orders. So far the government has placed a TEO on one woman of the group. Duniam says:
double quotation mark I don’t know how many of the cohort, so-called children, are below the age of 17. Temporary exclusion orders apply for kids between 14 and 17. Why haven’t they been had temporary exclusion orders applied? …So if people in their minds think this is a bunch of two and three year olds who are still learning to walk and talk, this is not the cohort we’re talking about. These children are a range of ages, and the government don’t have a handle on what sort of a risk they present.
‘You’re an activist or a journalist, you need to make up your mind’: Taylor tells journalist
Opposition leader Angus Taylor and Jonathan Duniam are pushing the government again on stopping the 34 Australian women and children held in a Syrian detention camp from returning home.
Journalist Jason Koutsoukis asks Taylor why another country should be responsible for Australian citizens.
Taylor attacks him, saying:
double quotation mark You’re an activist or a journalist, you need to make up your mind.
He doesn’t answer the question on why it should be another government’s responsibility to deal with the cohort.
The Coalition’s legislation could capture Sydney doctor Jamal Rifi, who has been in Damascus trying to help repatriate the group. Rifi has previously campaigned for the home affairs minister, Tony Burke.
Taylor says:
double quotation mark There are many questions this government have not yet answered. Why is there only one temporary exclusion order? Why is it that a close associate, a clear political ally of Tony Burke, is assisting repatriation?
Angus Taylor says children in Syrian camp are ‘Isis sympathisers’
The opposition is trying to continue putting pressure on the government over a group of women and children in a Syrian detention camp.
Angus Taylor is speaking to the media alongside Riverina MP Michael McCormack who has three Yazidi Australians with him who he says are “very concerned” about their safety if the 34 women and children return to Australia.
double quotation mark We must shut the door to Isis sympathisers. We should have values based and belief based tests on who comes into this country and those who believe in this ideology, the Isis ideology, are not welcome in this country.
Shadow home affairs minister, Jonathan Duniam, says the government cannot “be washing its hands of its responsibility when it comes to border control” and should stop the group returning to Australia. The opposition will introduce a bill to make it a crime to assist the group’s repatriation.
Taylor is pushed on whether the children in that group are also Isis sympathisers. He says:
double quotation mark They are Isis sympathisers. Let’s be clear that this is a group who have gone to the Middle East to support Isis.
Lengthy Senate debate on the US-Israeli strikes on Iran – in pictures
Labor supports the rest of the Coalition’s motion (without part A – that was voted on separately). Here’s a little look at how that debate went down.
A quick note here as well – Senator Pauline Hanson was set to face a censure motion put forward by the government around midday, but we understand it’s been delayed a bit and will likely come up after question time today.
Coalition motion on Iran to pass – with a carve-out
The government’s amendment also fails to pass, so now we’re down to the third vote, which is on the Coalition’s original motion.
But before we get to that, Katy Gallagher, the manager of government business in the Senate, asks the president to split the motion so part A is voted on separately to the rest of the Coalition’s motion. Which means there will now be two votes.
Part A of the Coalition’s motion states that the Senate:
double quotation mark Congratulates the United States of America and the State of Israel for their sustained efforts to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, acknowledging the longstanding threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs to regional and global peace and security.
i.e it appears that Labor will vote against that first part, but will then back the rest of the Coalition’s motion.
Labor’s motion would have replaced both parts A and B, but they’re now compromising.
Voting begins on Iran strike motion
After more than an hour and a half of debate on the issue, voting has begun on the Coalition’s motion and the Labor and Greens amendments.
The Greens amendment is voted on first – but fails as it’s not supported by the government or Coalition. Just independent senators Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Payman back the Greens amendment.
That amendment completely changed the wording of the motion, and called for Australia to withdraw support for Trump and Netanyahu’s “illegal war” and for the government not to provide any military support, including through joint bases in Australia.
Next the government’s amendment to the motion is now being voted on – and so far it looks like it might also fail as the Coalition, One Nation and the Greens move to vote against it.
‘Australia’s timid response to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran risks being seen as complicity,’ writes Donald Rothwell
double quotation mark Australia has been supportive of efforts to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions and has made clear it will not mourn the death of Khamenei.Foreign affairs minister Penny Wong’s statement that ‘I’ll leave it for the United States and Israel to speak of the basis, the legal basis for the attacks’ was cautious and suggested Australia was fence-sitting.
On one level this may seem reasonable as the onus clearly rests with the US and Israel to justify conduct which is a serious violation of the UN charter and an act of aggression. However, how other states react in situations like this matters, because silence or refusal to make a formal and clear statement can be interpreted as complicity.
Read international law professor Donald Rothwell’s analysis of Australia’s response to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran here:
Caitlin Cassidy
Early years maths curriculum to be reviewed after poor Naplan results
The way young students are taught numeracy is set to be overhauled after education ministers agreed to review the Foundation to Year 2 mathematics curriculum.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) had recommended the targeted review as part of a national effort to improve numeracy skills.
The review will focus on four areas: the prioritisation of mathematical content, clarity for teachers, specific content sequencing, and including explicit consumer and financial literacy content in the curriculum.
The latest Naplan data showed around one in three Australian students in Year 3 were not reaching “challenging but achievable numeracy standards”.
Acara’s CEO, Stephen Gniel, said given the poor findings, it was “right for us to have a national focus on numeracy improvement, including with the Year 1 Numeracy Checks coming into effect this year”.
The review will start this month, with advice and recommendations to be handed to education ministers in the third quarter of 2026.
Australian sharemarket falls as oil price surges
Luca Ittimani
The Australian sharemarket has slipped from its record high as war in Iran and rising oil prices raise fears of an world economic slowdown.
War has effectively closed a key shipping route for oil, the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices up 13%, from US$72.87 to US$80.20 this morning, according to Bloomberg’s measure of Asian trade in Brent Crude.
A US$1 rise in world oil prices roughly translates to an extra cent per litre for petrol at Australian bowsers, so if the increase holds, motorists could expect to pay nearly 10c more per litre.
Higher petrol prices mean less economic growth, weighing on markets and sending the benchmark S&P/ASX200 down 0.37% to 9,164.8 this morning as mining heavyweight BHP and the four big banks all fell. The ASX200 had closed at a record high of 9,198 on Friday.
Qantas has lost $900m from its market value, a 6% fall, as international airspace disruptions cruel Australians’ travel plans and leave hundreds of thousands stranded. Flight Centre has lost over $150m from its market value.
The energy sector is up 5%, led by oil and gas companies. Beach Energy is up 10%, Santos up nearly 7%, Woodside up more than 6%, with coalminers and petrol retailer Ampol also getting a boost.
Gold prices have surged to a new record high of over A$7,900, as traders look for a safe haven, sending six goldminers soaring 5% or more this morning. Weapons manufacturers Droneshield and Electro Optic Systems are up 10% and 13% respectively.
