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Save the Children Australia, an advocacy group that called for the repatriation of children stuck in Syria, have said it is still a “clear moral obligation and international legal requirement” for citizens to be returned to Australia.

The group said in a statement that the charges laid against a woman today showed that repatriation can be balanced with the safety of the community.

it is possible to repatriate its citizens while balancing any potential risks and ensuring the safety of the wider community.

If there is evidence that any of the women have committed crimes then the appropriate place for them to be charged and prosecuted is in Australia, where we can put our faith in the country’s robust judicial and national security architecture.

No child is responsible for the alleged actions of their parents. It is now more important than ever that these children are given the appropriate support to ensure their safe integration into Australian society.

The Australian newspaper has just confirmed that it has appointed its first ever female editor in chief in Michelle Gunn.

Gunn has been the editor of the Australian since May 2020 and, before that, was editor of the Weekend Australian for eight years.

The executive chairman of News Corp Australasia, Michael Miller, said in a statement Gunn understood “The Australian’s relationship with its audience.”

Her leadership and deep understanding of The Australian’s relationship with its audience will ensure its trusted and news-breaking journalism sets the national news agenda.

AAP is reporting that the New South Wales woman who was repatriated to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp has been granted bail after being charged with entering and remaining in parts of Syria that were under Islamic State control.

Mariam Raad, 31, was arrested on Thursday in Young, in the state’s south-west, where she had been living since being returned in October.

Australian federal police and NSW police investigators from the NSW joint counter-terrorism team executed warrants at her home and a home in Parklea, in Sydney’s north-west, where a relative lives.

She was charged with entering, or remaining in, “declared areas” – in this case Syria, which was under the control of the terrorist group IS – in breach of federal law.

She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.

Raad faced Griffith local court via an audio-visual link on Friday after being held in custody in Wagga. She was granted bail on Friday and was forced to surrender her passport.

Among 12 bail conditions, she was banned from contacting anyone in prison or associated with a terrorist group, barred from viewing or distributing material on things including terrorism and related propaganda, and cannot attempt to acquire a firearm.

She’s due to appear at Young local court on 15 March.

It will be alleged in court that Raad travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband – Muhammad Zahab – who left Australia in 2013 and joined IS.

It will be further alleged Raad was aware of her husband’s activities with IS and willingly travelled to the conflict region.

We are currently seeking to confirm reports that the Australian newspaper will get its first ever female editor in chief:

RSL Australia president supports NSW push for mandatory cashless poker machines

The president of RSL Australia has come out in support of the New South Wales government’s push to implement mandatory cashless poker machines.

Greg Melick was on RN Breakfast this morning, where he also accused the group that operates RSL clubs, RSL and Services Clubs Association, of giving the brand a “bad name.”

RSL Australia is a registered charity that supports veterans, while the RSL and Services Clubs Association runs the actual clubs themselves.

I think it’s sensible legislation and it’s necessary.

If we can’t force them to stick to certain guidelines and ethical practises, I would like to see them stop using the name.

If we can’t reach some appropriate arrangement, we’d approach government to legislate to prevent them using the name.

Kimberley flooding emergency prompts road train rule change

The flooding emergency in the Kimberley has prompted the authorities to temporarily tweak the rules for long road trains in Western Australia and South Australia to ensure food and essential supplies reach WA’s north and the Northern Territory, AAP is reporting.

Normally banned road trains up to 53.5m in length will be permitted to travel through parts of eastern WA and SA until late February.

Road access to the town of Derby was cut after flooding forced authorities to close a 700km section of the Great Northern Highway between Broome and Halls Creek, isolating the town of about 3,000 people.

Authorities say it’s likely the freight route south of Broome is also impassable at low-lying Roebuck Plain and it could take many weeks for it to drain.

“This temporary access will allow increased freight capacity on alternative road networks to keep essential freight moving and ensure communities in northwest Australia have access to food and essential supplies,” federal acting transport minister Madeleine King said.

It comes as ex-tropical cyclone Ellie continues to dump heavy rain with strong winds on the Kimberley region, where falls of up to 400mm have been recorded in and around Broome over a 48-hour period.

The slow-moving weather system has moved to the south-east and is expected to move further inland towards the Northern Territory on Friday afternoon.

Parts of WA’s north-east could receive up to 150mm of rain within 24 hours, creating the risk of dangerous flash flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Bill Shorten says national security ‘paramount’ to government’s decision making

Bill Shorten has defended claims the government has “questions to answer” on the repatriation of women and children from Syria, after a woman was charged with entering and remaining in parts of Syria that were under the control of Islamic State.

Shorten was on Sunrise, responding to deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley, who insisted there were issues here, even though NSW police noted in their statement yesterday that there is “no current or impending threat to the Australian community” as part of their work.

Shorten said national security had always been “paramount” to the government’s decision making, and emphasises that there were children who “didn’t have any say in the matter”.

Shorten also implied Ley was “point scoring” in bringing up any apparent danger the community faced, he wasn’t going to “scare people with a whole lot of smoke”:

National security has been paramount in all decisions, and just like our predecessors did in 2019 when they bought some people back, we want to make sure that it’s all done in a way which keeps people safe.

When we talk about the brides, there’s also little children there they didn’t have any say in the matter. I think anyone who knowingly went to aid Isis deserves the full weight of the law. But I’m not convinced that every little child over there you know that no one asked them, to be straight I think that we can monitor them better here in Australia than you can little kids getting radicalised in the Middle East.

Has information emerged about one of these women who went across there and she’s been charged, yes. Is the system working? Well it wouldn’t have been possible to charge her if he wasn’t here. I think that the system is working as it should be.

Despite all of this, despite all of the smoke and all of the sort of points scoring, the reality is that there’s been no suggestion that anyone who’s come back here is causing any actual threat to safety. The police are monitoring them all.

So I’m not going to run around scaring people with a whole lot of smoke when the reality is that the information has come to light the police authorities have joined the counterterrorism task force to do their day job.

Albanese government and Business Council agree to disability employment pilot

The Albanese government has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Business Council of Australia to create and implement a “new disability employment pilot”.

The pilot program is a direct outcome from the national jobs and skills summit held in September, with the agreement following a $3.3m investment from the government in the pilot.

The minister for social services, Amanda Rishworth, said the collaboration would improve employment outcomes for people with disability, while also testing new ways to drive organisational cultural change and develop corporate capacity to open up development and advancement opportunities.

There are 2.1 million Australians with disability of working age, but only 53.4% are in the labour workforce. We also know 93% of working-age people with disability face difficulties finding work due to the lack of suitable employment and perceived limitations of their disability.

This new employment pilot seeks to address this and provide significant benefits to people with disability, employers and businesses, the economy and the broader community.

Paul Karp

Chalmers also addressed Acoss’ criticism that indexation of welfare payments is insufficient to improve the wellbeing of people on jobseeker, and calls to ditch the stage three tax cuts.

On welfare, Chalmers said:

There has been a big increase as a consequence of the indexation made necessary by this higher inflation. And so that indexation is flowing through I think in welcome ways to people who are on payments. There will always be an appetite to do more and to do better when it comes to these payments. And we will always do what we responsibly can to support people, particularly people on low and fixed incomes.

Chalmers noted he, social services minister Amanda Rishworth, and former minister Jenny Macklin, are part of a committee considering the adequacy of payments ahead of the budget.

Asked if abolishing stage three would require a fresh mandate at the next election, Chalmers replied:

It’s not something I’m contemplating because … our position on those tax cuts hasn’t changed. And it’s not the only factor frankly in the budget which people are talking about right now, in welcome ways. As we get towards the budget, that I’ll hand down in May, there’s a lot of pressure on the budget when it comes to aged care, health care defense, spending the NDIS, the cost of servicing the trillion dollars of debt that we inherited from our predecessors.

Chalmers said the October budget made “a good start making the budget more sustainable while we provided some responsible cost of living relief” and promised “you will see more of that in May”.

An important detail between those two Covid updates is the apparent spike in deaths across New South Wales and Victoria, with both recording jumps compared to the week before.

NSW recorded a jump of over 40 deaths while Victoria recorded a jump of over 30 deaths, but both can be attributed to delays in reporting over the Christmas and new year holidays, with numbers returning to pre-holiday levels.

Victoria has recorded 12,349 new cases in the past week and 108 deaths, another slight drop in cases but jump in deaths:

NSW Health has released Covid numbers today, with 19,793 cases recorded in the past week, a drop on the 27,665 recorded the week before. There has been a jump in deaths though, as the health department noted might happen due to delays in reporting over the holidays.

Paul Karp

Chalmers says Covid had ‘extraordinary impact’ on population growth expectations

Chalmers also addressed the findings of the population report, which is set to be released today.

Asked about Australia’s ageing population, Chalmers said:

It is a huge challenge … The way that our population changes and evolves and grows over time is really crucial to our society but also to our economy as well. And Covid has had an extraordinary impact on our expectations for population growth: whether it’s fertility, whether it’s migration, whether it’s the slowest population growth a couple of years ago, in the depths of Covid, that we’ve had for more than a century. All of these things are really crucial determinants when it comes to thinking about and planning for our future. And so we need to make sure as a government and as a society that we’ve got the services and the infrastructure to keep up with population growth … One of the most important things that we can do and that we are doing is to build the kind of workforce that can support a population which is getting bigger but also getting a bit older as well, and some of those trends have been exacerbated by Covid.

Chalmers pointed to the migration review being conducted by the home affairs department, Labor’s childcare subsidies, and addressing skills shortages as ways to expand the workforce and increase skills to support an ageing population.

Paul Karp

Jim Chalmers briefly comments on Raad’s arrest

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has commented on the arrest of Mariam Raad for allegedly entering a declared area in Syria.

Chalmers told ABC News Breakfast:

This is obviously part of an ongoing effort from our counterterrorism authorities. You’re right, that it does apply to conduct which [allegedly] occurred in 2014. Our understanding is that there has been no threat to the community since she returned and there’s obviously a process to go through now which involves the AFP and others. And so I don’t have much to add beyond that .

Our assurance for the Australian people … is that we will always do what is in the interest of community safety. And making these decisions for the right reasons and well-founded decisions. And so people can expect us to continue to monitor and take all of the necessary steps.

Labor has come under criticism from the Coalition for allowing women and children to return from Syrian camps.

Miriam Raad due to face court

AAP is reporting that the New South Wales woman who was repatriated to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp is due to face court after being charged with entering and remaining in parts of Syria that were under the control of Islamic State.

Mariam Raad, 31, was arrested on Thursday in Young, in the state’s south-west, where she had been living since being returned in October.

Australian federal police and NSW police investigators from the NSW joint counter-terrorism team executed warrants at her home and a home in Parklea, in Sydney’s north-west, where a relative lives.

She was charged with entering, or remaining in, “declared areas” – in this case Syria, which was under the control of the terrorist group IS – in breach of federal law.

She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.

Raad is due to appear via an audio-visual link in Wagga Wagga local court on Friday.

It will be alleged in court that she travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband – Muhammad Zahar – who left Australia in 2013 and joined IS.

It will be further alleged Raad was aware of her husband’s activities with IS and willingly travelled to the conflict region.

The husband, a former Sydney maths teacher who rose through the ranks of IS, is believed to have died in Syria in 2018.

The woman was until last year living in the Al Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp in northern Syria, which has been under Kurdish control since the defeat of IS.

The investigation into the woman began when she was in Syria and continued after she returned.

You can read more on the story at the link below:

China reportedly considering allowing Australian coal imports to resume

AAP is reporting that Australia-China relations appear on the mend amid reports Beijing will allow coal imports to resume for the first time since 2020.

It’s the latest positive step between the two nations after the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, met with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in November and the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, met with her counterpart in Beijing last month.

Australian coal exporters are becoming more confident it’s more than just a rumour, despite similar reports last year that China was considering resuming purchases of Australian coal coming to nothing.

The sector is encouraging China to move decisively and not risk missing out on its next round of purchase contracts.

Australia China Business Council president David Olsson said it would pave the way for more business dealings in the future.

Now that high-level government-to-government meetings between Australia and China have recommenced, we have a better environment in which to address trade restrictions that are in place between the two countries.

The resumption of high-level meetings sends a strong, positive signal to the Chinese system and business community about Australia’s role as a business partner for China.

Australia-China Relations Institute research principal Roc Shi said while the economic impact of the resumption of the coal trade might not be huge, it would be a step forward.

The change is more important politically than economically … This action signals China has made the first step towards mending the relationship.

Technically, it is not difficult for the Chinese government as the ban has never been officially announced … however, the implication is significant as it indicates China’s willingness to improve the bilateral relationship.

Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the first Friday of the year, which will also bring us the first batch of Covid figures for the year.

Eyes will be on the spread of the XBB.1.5 variant which has been found in Australia, with authorities on the lookout for how far it can reach. While there is no evidence the new variant is more severe than previous iterations, the World Health Organisation said it was concerned about XBB.1.5 given how easily it can be shared.

Elsewhere, after drip-feeding morsels of details, we will finally get a look at the 2022 population report in full today, with all the details adding up to paint an interesting picture of the future of Australia. We already know we are an ageing population, that Melbourne is on track to overtake Sydney, and that growth has slowed due to the pandemic – a fuller picture should become clear today.

On the Gold Coast, a young Sydney boy remains in a coma following the fatal helicopter collision earlier this week. Nicholas Tadros, 10, was in the helicopter taking off, and is still in a critical condition.

And road rules are being relaxed in north-western Western Australia so the emergency supplies can get in, as the region faces its worst ever flooding. Emergency evacuations continued in the Kimberley yesterday, as the Fitzroy River’s flood peak bore down on tiny Noonkanbah.

The emergency services minister, Stephen Dawson, told reporters that it was the worst flooding the state had ever seen, as helicopters spent the day saving people from their rooftops:

People in the Kimberley are experiencing a one-in-100-year flood event, the worst flooding WA has ever seen.

This situation is still changing and it’s proving to be extremely challenging.

We’ll bring you more on that, and everything else happening in the country, stay tuned.