Greens urge Labor to stop treating children detained in Syria camp like ‘disposable political pawns’ – as it happened

Thanks for staying with us today. Nick Visser will be back to cover the news breaking around Australia tomorrow morning. Until then, here were Thursday’s top stories.

Doctor who went to Syrian camp calls Albanese ‘heartless’

The Sydney doctor advocating for the return of 11 Australian mothers and their 23 children from Syrian detention has called Anthony Albanese “heartless” for refusing to rescue them.

Jamal Rifi has long been advocating for the group’s repatriation, leading private discussions with the government on ways to bring them home.

Angus Taylor, recently elevated to opposition leader, has suggested the government has offered assistance to the group, despite the prime minister saying no help will be offered and expressing his “contempt” for the mothers, who are the wives and widows of Islamic State soldiers.

Rifi said there had been no government help and Taylor was “the new kid on the block and] does not know what he is talking about”.

I have been frustrated and upset, not now but before, when we realised that the government is not undertaking any repatriation. They left us no option except do-it-yourself repatriation.

Rifi said the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, had told him there would be no repatriation in mid-2025. He said that was the last time he had spoken to Tony Burke, his former friend who he had campaigned for in the May election.

We were told on no uncertain terms that they’re not going to play any part in repatriating this cohort, and I was not happy then, I am not happy now.

… Do you think we have any chance with the opposition of getting them back in? No chance whatsoever. I would have thought we had a better chance with the Albanese Labor government. I just did not realise that he is so heartless.

Rifi said he had not given up on saving the group and would stay with family in Tripoli, Lebanon, as he worked to resolve the situation.

The Greens are pleading with the Albanese government to stop treating children detained in north-east Syria as “disposable political pawns” and assist their return to Australia, after first-hand accounts from inside al-Roj camp laid bare the extent of their plight.

The Guardian on Thursday reported the stories of several of the 23 Australian children held in the detention camp along with their mothers, the wives and widows of suspected Islamic State fighters who travelled to Syria during its so-called caliphate.

“Why do I have to be in here? I don’t want to be in a tent. I don’t want to be in a camp. I don’t want to be in a prison … I just want to go and be free,” one of the children, 11-year-old Baidaa, said.

Speaking after the accounts were published, the Greens home affairs spokesperson, David Shoebridge, told Guardian Australia:

Just listen to the recordings – they are kids. Children are crying and distressed because politicians are treating them as disposable political pawns. One of these kids has never seen a house before, has only ever grown up with people living in tents. For the prime minister to know this and just shrug his shoulders because he wants to look crueller than Pauline Hanson is hard to see.

I used to think that it was accepted across the board that one of the primary roles of the Australian government is to keep Australian children safe.

I have met children at this camp, and there were just that, children. Not threats and not a political football that can be kicked around by One Nation, Liberals and Labor.

You can hear the children speak on the Full Story podcast:

Advocate for Syria-held women says children-only rescue ‘dirty work’

A Sydney Muslim community figure fighting for the repatriation of detainees in Syria has said he won’t split the children from their mothers, calling it the government’s “dirty work”.

The 11 mothers in the group have suggested that their 23 children be taken back to Australia without them, the Guardian has previously reported.

Jamal Rifi has revealed the mothers proposed their solution to him and fellow advocates, who rejected the idea, saying if the Australian government wanted to split mothers from children it should do so itself. Rifi told the ABC:

We as [human beings], we as fathers, we’re not going to actually pursue that, that’s not our call. If the government want to do this, let them actually do it themselves. We’re not going to do it for them. We won’t do their dirty work for them …

It is on the Australian government to look after the interests of all Australian children and if they have an ounce of humanity and care and compassion, they will act to remove those children, the sooner the better. If they will do the children only, that’s their call, that’s not going to be my call, I won’t do it.

Rifi said the children would be harmed and prevented from integrating into Australian society if taken from their mothers, who are the wives and widows of Islamic State soldiers. He said:

Haven’t we learned from what happened to the Stolen Generation? Haven’t we learned the impact that happened on the family, and also on the children, when we separate them from their mothers – who cared for them for the last six years, in awful circumstances. Regardless [of] if they are actually the biggest terrorists on earth, but yet they are mothers. They are caring for their offsprings and I’m not going to separate them.

The mother may ask us to do this right now but later on in life they will actually curse us. The kids might [have been] coming right now. But if separating them from their mothers who care for them is going to impact on their rehabilitation, and on their integration and on their wellbeing and emotional well being, it wouldn’t be doing any favours.

The Guardian’s William Christou has spoken to the children detained in the camp, as you can read here:

Sydney doctor helping Syrian detainees says camp officials’ reports cannot be trusted

Jamal Rifi, the Sydney doctor who has been working to evacuate the 34 Australian citizens in a detention camp in Syria, says reports of extra Australian detainees are not to be trusted.

Rifi has previously lobbied for the government to bring the cohort of women and children back to Australia. He has this month been in the Middle East working to help the group get home.

In some of his first public comments since travelling overseas, Rifi said the reports of additional Australian women being detained separately could not be relied on and said the camp officials were not trustworthy. Rifi told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:

I wouldn’t take what we see from the camp officials as the gospel or the truth. … I reckon they’re lying through their teeth. Because they lied before. They didn’t facilitate what we’re doing, they leak information to the local media so the media can sell all the footage and I reckon they are after the money. Everyone is after the money in that area.

He described the difficult circumstances playing out on the ground earlier this month.

It took us three days to convince the Syrian Democratic Forces for the uncles to visit their nephew and nieces in the camp and it was hard negotiation. Then we took them out. Media was not supposed to be there and we had a big media scrum over there. Then, they make now the decision that they are going to close the camp.

Labor assistant minister cautions against ‘rush to outrage’ at PM’s Grace Tame comment

A Labor MP defending Anthony Albanese’s description of Grace Tame as “difficult” has warned against a “rush to outrage”.

Josh Wilson, Labor’s assistant minister for energy, said Albanese had claimed he would have said “powerhouse” if he had been trying to describe Tame’s character. Wilson told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:

There is a bit of a risk in … the kind of rush to outrage that we go a little bit too deep on these things. …

Grace Tame is a significant public figure and she is entitled to express her views on a range of subjects. … I totally respect Grace Tame’s response [and] she is entitled to take her own view.

A Liberal frontbencher, James McGrath, said Albanese should deliver a stronger apology to Tame. He told the same program:

The prime minister shouldn’t have said what he said. He clearly meant it and what he has been doing since this morning has been doing a bit of flip-flopping and walking sideways and giving a half-hearted apology, saying that is not what he meant to say. It is clearly what he meant to say and he should come out and do a proper apology to Ms Tame.

I am not a fan of Ms Tame, I think she is someone who should herself apologise after all the comments that she has made about “globalise the intifada” … but I don’t think that the prime minister should be calling any woman, regardless of their political pedigree, difficult.

Albanese wrong to call Grace Tame difficult, says Liberal

The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has said the prime minister should not have described Grace Tame as difficult.

McIntosh, the Coalition’s shadow minister for Social Services, said the phrase was “a poor choice of words”. She told the ABC:

When I heard that he had said that, I cringed inside …. Women get told we are difficult a lot … If she didn’t accept his apology, he should sort it out with her.

McIntosh has previously demanded the prime minister condemn Grace Tame for her chant of the phrase “globalise the intifada” ahead of a protest march against the Israeli president’s visit in Sydney earlier this month.

She told host Patricia Karvelas she still believed Albanese should not describe any woman as difficult:

Grace Tame, by no means, I don’t always agree with her, I felt quite strongly about what she did it at that march, I question having her Australian of the Year title even now.

If she didn’t like it, there is a reason for that. The prime minister should not have used that word. …

Have you been called difficult? I have. I reckon it’s resonating with you, it’s resonating with me, and I think it’s probably resonating with many women, which is why they are cranky. … It is not just about the recipient, being Grace Tame, but many women have been told at some point in their life that they’re difficult and that’s why people are kicking up about it.

Labor minister says PM ‘fierce advocate’ for women after ‘difficult’ Grace Tame description

Labor’s environment minister, Murray Watt, has defended the prime minister as a “fierce advocate” of women in the face of criticism of Anthony Albanese calling Grace Tame “difficult”.

Watt denied the phrase’s use was condescending. He told the ABC:

I think any honest observer of the prime minister’s actions knows that he has been a fierce advocate for the rights of women in Australia and has [made] immeasurable change to the lives of Australian women.

Albanese has claimed to be referring to Tame’s “difficult life”. When pointed out that his use of the word did not reflect that, Watt said:

Clearly not, but he has since explained what he meant by that statement, he has apologised for any misinterpretation.

And as I say, if anyone looks at the prime minister’s record … in every single possible way, this prime minister has led the charge to ensure that Australian women and respected and are supported …

I think it shows the traps for all of us in participating in these kinds of one-word games that some media outlets like to participate in.

‘Too early to put away bushfire plans,’ emergency chief warns

The bushfire season could stretch into April across Australia’s south amid long-term drought, with Victoria especially at risk.

With the release of the bushfire outlook earlier today, Rob Webb, chief executive of the Australian and New Zealand council for fire and emergency services (AFAC) has spoken to the ABC:

Even with little bits of rain that we’ve had lately and some in the forecast there are still concerns that the season may yet still hang on a little bit longer. So, too early to put away bushfire plans at the moment.

The threat of bushfires could continue into autumn as late as April in Australia’s south, for much of Victoria and parts of South Australia, Webb warned.

The southern half of the country really over this autumn period is likely to be drier than normal … The fuels are there, the conditions are there. It’s just a matter of whether the warm conditions and windy conditions develop.

… We don’t just get out of the summer months and say the fire season’s over. We’ve seen globally this trend to lengthening fire seasons and the intensity of these fire seasons increasing.

Statement from Grace Tame to be read at ‘globalise the intifada’ Sydney protest

Pro-Palestine groups say they will chant “globalise the intifada” when they return to Sydney town hall on Friday, nearly three weeks after clashing with police.

Grace Tame, who led chants of the phrase at that protest against the Israeli president’s visit on 9 February, will have a statement read at the rally, organisers said.

The prime minister criticised Tame’s use of that phrase today while apologising for describing the former Australian of the year as difficult, as you can read here:

The statement will be read outside Sydney’s town hall along with speeches from the NSW Greens politician Amanda Cohn and others, before protesters march to NSW parliament to chant “globalise the intifada”, according to the Stop the War on Palestine group.

The groups will protest against the state government’s plan to ban the phrase and other protest slogans, organiser Adam Adelpour said. He said more protests would follow:

Defiance works, and Minns can expect more of it so long as he continues to try and strip us of our basic democratic rights.

Listen now: blaring sirens on smartphones to warn Australians of major disasters under emergency alerts overhaul

Australians will soon receive intrusive alerts on their smartphones to warn of impending emergencies as governments overhaul warning systems for natural disasters and other serious events.

Here is what the system sounds like:

The $132m AusAlert system will be rolled out through a series of trials from June, replacing state-based text messaging systems which often struggle because of demand in major emergencies.

Alerts will be sent for bushfires, floods, biosecurity threats and public safety incidents like shootings. The messages will link users to more information from official sources online.

Read more from Tom McIlroy here: