Australia news LIVE: Australia leaves fate of ISIS brides to US military; Labor announces first military support package for Ukraine in over a year

Dozens of oil tankers in Russia’s shadow fleet will be hit by a fresh round of Australian sanctions in a bid to starve Vladimir Putin of revenue to fund his war machine as the federal government announces its first military support package for Ukraine in more than a year.

The new measures, however, will not silence growing calls for the government to go further by pledging to join the European Union and United Kingdom by committing to ban the import of any Russian-origin oil through intermediary countries.

A leading sanctions law expert has blasted Australian efforts to target the trade of Russian-origin oil as “weak and slow”, arguing government policies need to be toughened to ensure Australians are not inadvertently helping funnel money to the Kremlin.

Russian oil tankers in the Mediterranean in September.Credit: Bloomberg

The government this morning announced $95 million in military assistance for Ukraine, including its first contribution to the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), a NATO-administered initiative to fund and deliver critical US military equipment to Ukraine.

Australia will also provide $45 million in equipment – tactical air defence radars, munitions and combat engineering equipment – from the defence force’s stockpile and $2 million to assist Ukraine with drone technology.

Read the full story on the government’s new military package.

The American military has offered to bring the Australian women and children of Islamic State back home from Syria, but the Australian government has blocked the move by refusing to issue them passports.

For six years, Liberal and Labor governments have refused to repatriate the bulk of the Australian citizens from camps in Syria, saying it would be too dangerous for public servants to travel there.

Documents released in estimates late on Tuesday now demonstrate that the 37 remaining women and children could be extracted by the American military without Australians having to set foot in the country.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

An August letter to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, written by the representative of the families, Kamalle Dabboussy, and the head of Save the Children Australia, Mat Tinkler, says the families were prepared to “take control of their own destiny”.

“The US government has offered to provide support for repatriations … The support will be provided by Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, Syria TCN Repatriations Team – a unit specifically designed to facilitate the repatriation of foreign nationals and with a track record of doing so safely and securely,” the letter said.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and welcome to our national news live blog for Thursday, December 4. My name is Emily Kaine, and I’ll be helming our coverage for the first part of the day. Here’s what is making news this morning.

• The American military has offered to bring the Australian women and children of Islamic State back home from Syria, but the Australian government has blocked the move by refusing to issue them passports. For six years, Liberal and Labor governments have refused to repatriate the bulk of the Australian citizens from camps in Syria, saying it would be too dangerous for public servants to travel there. Documents released in estimates late on Tuesday now demonstrate that the 37 remaining women and children could be extracted by the American military without Australians having to set foot in the country.

• Australia is set to take a big step to wrest control of spiralling power prices by forcing gas companies to keep fuel onshore, as Labor moves to assure its closest Asian ally, Japan, that plans to limit gas exports will not deprive the resource-poor nation of contracted imports. Labor is poised to announce an east coast gas reservation scheme as soon as next week, marking what would be another strident government intervention in the problem-filled energy market.

• The government will today announce $95 million in military assistance for Ukraine, including its first contribution to the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), a NATO-administered initiative to fund and deliver critical US military equipment to Ukraine, and dozens of oil tankers in Russia’s shadow fleet will be hit by a fresh round of Australian sanctions in a bid to starve Vladimir Putin of revenue to fund his war machine.
• House Democrats have released new footage of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Carribean. The footage shows several bedrooms, bathrooms and what resembles a dentist’s chair in one room with masks on the wall. A Democratic committee aide told CNN that the footage released had previously never been made public, but it follows US President Donald Trump signing a bill that requires the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related documents in its possession. The Epstein files could be released in a matter of days.

• Hundreds of people remain missing across three provinces on the Indonesian island of Sumatra after a rare equatorial cyclone last week triggered extreme flooding and mudslides, wiping out villages, key infrastructure and communications. Local governments say they are incapable of responding to the unfolding flood catastrophe that has killed at least 770 people because the destruction is too vast and their treasuries too low.

Stay with us as we continue to bring you the latest rolling news updates from Australia and around the world.