Australia news LIVE: ‘ISIS bride’ charged; $2bn lawsuit launched against PFAS-maker 3M; ABC boss Hugh Marks fronts estimates; tax changes introduced to parliament

Rayann El Houli, charged today with terror offences, returned to Australia on September 26 with another woman, AFP deputy commissioner Hilda Sirec said at a press conference in Canberra.

She said the investigation into the second woman was ongoing, as well as “all the women that returned recently”.

Asked why Operation Kurrajong, launched into the Australian citizens overseas with links to Islamic State, had taken so long to secure the arrest, Sirec said: “These are highly complex matters”.

“We need to be able to take the time and effort to make sure that the evidence is admissible and to a legal standard.”

Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie said Labor senator Glenn Sterle had failed to apologise after telling her “I will cut you up”.

Sterle and McKenzie were sitting on a Senate inquiry panel earlier this week when they had a dispute and Sterle invited a policy debate, saying “I will cut you up”.

When McKenzie questioned the comment, Sterle said he had meant metaphorically, and should have said “carve you up” instead, before going on to call McKenzie an “ignoramus”.

McKenzie, who is the opposition infrastructure and transport spokeswoman, said this morning she was yet to receive an apology, but had been flooded with support from constituents.

“I want more women in parliament. I want more women in the transport industry, but the way the transport union sponsored senators speak to women in public, threatening to glass them, you can only imagine what they are saying and doing elsewhere,” McKenzie told Sky News.

McKenzie said the footage spoke for itself, and any further action against Sterle was a matter for the Labor Party. She said at the time of the comment she would raise it with Senate leaders Katy Gallagher and Penny Wong.

Australian Federal Police have held a press conference after a returning “ISIS bride” was charged with terror offences.

Rayann El Houli, 34, is expected to face Melbourne Magistrates Court this afternoon charged with entering or remaining in a declared area and being a member of a terror organisation.

Watch below:

Hugh Marks confirmed the sacking of investigative reporter Mahmood Fazal from its Four Corners program during a senate estimates hearing on Thursday morning, as revealed by this masthead.

“He was terminated,” Marks, the ABC’s managing director said, in response to questions from Liberal senator Sarah Henderson.

“That investigation has now been completed, as Mr Fazal was able to participate in that investigation, and as a result of that investigation, Mr Fazal no longer is employed by the ABC,” Marks said.

The ABC launched an investigation into the Four Corners reporter after he launched a podcast with a former underworld figure last year, which appeared with gambling advertising when published online.

Counter-terror police have charged a woman with terrorism offences after she returned to Australia.

Australian Federal Police will hold a press conference later today to provide further details, after announcing the woman’s arrest as part of Operation Kurrajong.

The operation began in 2015 to track, investigate, and handle the potential return of Australians who travelled to the Middle East during the ISIS caliphate.

Two cohorts of women and children have returned to Australia this month.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the government is not providing any assistance to repatriate them.

“There are consequences for people’s actions … [our security agencies] continue to monitor these individuals, and where it is necessary to bring proceedings against them, that will happen,” Rowland said.

The government’s budget tax changes introduced to the parliament today have been referred to a Senate inquiry.

“We will use this inquiry to examine how and why Labor decided to leave in place the vast majority of tax handouts for the ultra-wealthy,” Senator Nick McKim, the Greens’ economic justice spokesperson, said in a statement.

“As with so many parts of Labor’s budget, this bill is a missed opportunity to finally put people ahead of profits and make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share.

“Labor’s extremely generous grandparenting provisions have left so much money on the table.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has cast Labor’s tax changes as an important choice. Here’s what he said:

“This bill presents a choice, a choice between cutting income taxes for Australian workers or keeping them higher, a choice between standing with first home buyers or locking more Australians out of the housing market. Taking our intergenerational challenges and responsibilities seriously, or defending a broken system that fails future generations. Mr Speaker, this side of the House is proud to stand with workers and first home buyers. We are proud to make the tax system fairer for the next generation of Australians. This is about making a difference, not just marking time. This is about taking the hard road of reform, not the path of least resistance. It’s about making the right decisions, even when they are politically contentious. It’s about making difficult decisions and dealing with issues which have been neglected for too long, even when it would have been easier to do nothing at all. Most of all, this legislation is about cutting taxes for workers, it’s about making it easier to buy a first home, it’s about better aligning the tax treatment of labour and asset income, and that’s why I commend this bill to the House.”