Australia news LIVE: Second group of IS-linked families leave Syria for Australia, according to reports; Iran war and inflation hit jobs market as unemployment surges

Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Friday, May 22. Here’s what is making news today.

• The Iran war, the surge in inflation and the Reserve Bank’s interest rate increases are starting to hit the jobs market. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday that the nation’s jobless rate lifted to 4.5 per cent from 4.3 per cent in April. It’s the highest unemployment rate since November 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Foreign Minister Penny Wong yesterday ordered the Israeli ambassador to Australia be hauled before the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to “reinforce” the government’s displeasure in a video posted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting flotilla activists.
• The government announced a $7.2 million diphtheria support package yesterday, that Health Minister Mark Butler said would combat the biggest outbreak of the disease in Australia in decades.
• The prime minister has been repeatedly pressed on what his government is doing to support victims of domestic violence, after he was accused of dismissing women’s concerns in a radio interview earlier this week.
• Another group of Australian IS-linked women and children have departed a camp in north-eastern Syria, according to reporting by the ABC, and are believed to be on the way back to Australia.
• And abroad, an outbreak of a rare strain of the Ebola virus continues to spread through the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

A group of 11 Australians who were imprisoned by Israeli forces after their Gaza-bound flotilla was intercepted in foreign waters have been released after more than three days in detainment.

They were transported on buses to Ramon Airport where they boarded flights to Istanbul.

Two of the Australians spoke outside Istanbul Airport this morning.

They allege abuse and mistreatment of other flotilla participants by Israel, contradicting the ambassador’s repeated claims on 7.30 last night that no one was harmed.

Greens senator Nick McKim says the actions of Israeli forces who arrested Gaza-bound flotilla activists in international waters before imprisoning them was “illegal” and “a form of torture”.

“They’re having their human rights abused. It is effectively a form of torture, and the simple fact is that Israel is now a rogue state,” he told ABC radio.

“They’re kidnapping people, including Australian citizens, from international waters on the high seas. It’s basically an act of piracy. They are illegally taking them into Israel, and then when they get them into Israel, they are abusing and degrading them. I mean, this demands the strongest possible response from our prime minister and our foreign minister, a far, fare stronger response than they’ve delivered to date.”

Eleven Australians were imprisoned by Israeli forces after their boats were intercepted in foreign waters. They were released yesterday after more than three days.

They were transported on buses to Ramon Airport where they boarded flights to Istanbul.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong yesterday ordered the Israeli ambassador to Australia be hauled before DFAT to “reinforce” the government’s displeasure over a widely condemned video posted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of him taunting flotilla activists.

Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie has incorrectly claimed that one million Australians will be subject to a “death tax” in the government’s budget, when the actual number of affected people would at most be 10,516, according to the latest data.

In last week’s budget, the government announced that a 30 per cent rate would soon apply to all discretionary trusts to better align earnings from investments with income tax. Caught in that are discretionary testamentary trusts, a type of trust that is embedded in a will so the will-writer can have control over the flow of assets and the income derived from them after they pass away.

Appearing on Sky News, McKenzie said: “Over a million Australians use testamentary trusts to protect their children’s inheritance against predators and creditors, so against a future spouse who would be entitled to 50 per cent of that inheritance under usual legal parameters”.

In the most recent data from the Australian Taxation Office, which covered financial year 2022-23, there were 10,516 testamentary trusts in the country. This included both fixed trusts, which face no new taxes under budgetary changes, and discretionary trusts. All discretionary trusts that were created prior to last Tuesday will not be caught up in the tax changes.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has been caught on camera describing a journalist as a “nasty bitch” after her media adviser told the woman to “shut up” at a press conference in Adelaide yesterday.

Hanson was speaking at an Australian Energy Producers conference to announce her party’s gas policy. At a subsequent press conference a journalist attempted to ask a final question of Hanson but was shut down by her media adviser Richard Henderson, who told the woman to shut up.

A television camera caught Hanson, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce, Senator Tyron Whitten and a few others leaving the building. Hanson turned to Whitten and said, “should’ve said, you’re the nasty bitch” to which the cohort laughed.

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has defended Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his flippant response to the suggestion of a royal commission into domestic violence earlier this week.

Appearing on Hit 100.9FM Hobart on Monday, Albanese was asked if his government would take action on a petition with more than 93,000 signatures calling for a royal commission to be ordered in response to the surging domestic violence rate.

“There’s calls for a royal commission about everything,” he responded.

On ABC Radio National this morning, Plibersek said it was “unfair” to suggest that the prime minister’s tone meant he did not take domestic violence seriously.

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume claims the government is accusing small business owners of tax avoidance, as Health Minister Mark Butler argues that Labor is seeking to equalise the tax system.

Appearing on a panel alongside Butler on breakfast television this morning, Hume said: “[Labor] have essentially accused small businesses of avoiding their tax obligations, smearing a lot of small businesses that are using these very legitimate structures for their businesses that their accountants have recommended.

“Whether it be Anthony Albanese or Jim Chalmers, Murray Watt, yesterday Claire O’Neil, and now Paul Keating are accusing these people of tax avoiding. I think that’s the greatest insult you could possibly imagine to people that take all the risks,” Hume told Seven’s Sunrise.

A firestorm over changes to the capital gains tax discount announced in last week’s budget has led to a series of viral online memes purporting to show Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a co-owner in Australians’ small businesses.

Staying with Plibersek, she also said this morning that a second cohort of IS-linked women and children reportedly returning to Australia would face “the same consequences” as the first group, who returned earlier this month.

Of that group of nine women and four children, three of the women were arrested upon arrival. Two were charged with slavery offences and one with terrorism offences.

“I can tell you that they’ll face the same consequences as the first group, which is if there are any crimes that they’re accused of, they’ll be taken into custody and treated with the full force of the law,” the social services minister said.

According to reporting by the ABC, the second group of women and children have departed a camp in north-eastern Syria and are believed to be on the way back to Australia.

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has condemned a video posted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting flotilla activists.

She told ABC TV this morning that the footage was “disgusting”.

“The foreign minister has made her views and the views of Australia very clear about just how disgraceful it was, and I mean, this is someone that’s already been sanctioned in Australia.

“I think the foreign minister has been pretty clear on our attitude.”

The Israeli government has now released and deported hundreds of flotilla activists, who were flown to Istanbul, Turkey. Wearing grey sweatsuits and Arab keffiyehs, they descended stairs to the runaway flashing two-fingered salutes and chanting “Free Palestine.” Some appeared to be limping, AP reported.

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong ordered the Israeli ambassador to Australia to be hauled before the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to “reinforce” the government’s displeasure about Ben-Gvir’s video.

People set fire to an Ebola treatment centre in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer told The Associated Press, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain.

The arson attack reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in adequate health facilities and where many people are on the move to escape armed conflicts.

The bodies of those who die from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from victims’ families and friends.

There were 160 suspected deaths and 671 suspected cases in the DRC’s two provinces, Congolese authorities said on Thursday. Earlier in the week, the UN said there were two cases including one death in neighbouring Uganda.

The World Health Organisation, however, has said the outbreak is almost certainly much larger and has also expressed concern over the speed of the spread.

AP

A second group of Australian women and children with Islamic State links have left a camp in north-east Syria to return home, the ABC reports.

Overnight, the ABC reported witnessing buses at the al-Roj refugee camp to take the group to Damascus for onward flights.

Earlier this month, four women and nine children returned to Australia after spending years at the camp. Three of the women were arrested upon arrival and are separately facing charges including being a member of a terrorist organisation and crimes against humanity.

A total of 34 Australian women and children first attempted to leave the camp in February, but were turned back about 50 kilometres down the road.