Coalition details plan to criminalise assisting people with links to Islamic State
Ted O’Brien, the shadow minister for foreign affairs, is speaking this morning about a new opposition plan to make it a criminal offence to help Australians with links to the Islamic State to return home.
The proposal comes as lawmakers wrangle over the future of 34 women and children stuck in Syria with links to dead or detained Islamic State fighters.
The Albanese government said the country will not assist in repatriation efforts, but those in the group have been issued passports and travel documents as is required by law.
O’Brien told RN Breakfast the plan would close a loophole in the law, saying it would bar the government from “outsourcing the repatriation of terror sympathisers back to Australia”.
He said the proposal should apply “across the board”. When pressed if a new law would include barring anyone from helping children come home to Australia, O’Brien said there would be no “automatic exemption” for kids.
The shadow minister also said the law could penalise non-governmental organisations like Save the Children if they were “assisting foreign fighters, families or sympathisers of terrorists”.
Key events
Large parts of the country in for stormy, wet start to the week
Communities could be cut off and large parts of Australia disrupted by severe thunderstorms forecast to dump hundreds of millimetres of rain, but the big wet is not all bad news, AAP reports.
A low-pressure system sitting over central Australia is brewing a significant rain event expected to drag into the middle of the week, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.
Across the four days until Wednesday, Sarah Scully, a BoM meteorologist, said the heaviest rainfall totals of between 150mm and more than 300mm were expected throughout central Australia, South Australia’s border district, Queensland and NSW.
But a “bull’s eye” around central Melbourne, with possible falls of more than 75mm, could potentially put out fires burning in Victoria, she said.
Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are likely in central parts of Australia and north-west NSW on Monday, with flood warnings in place from northern Australia to northern parts of South Australia, extending into Queensland.
Severe Weather Update: Multi-day heavy rainfall event across large parts of Aus.
Video current as of 2:30pm AEDT 22 February 2026.
Know your weather. Know your risk.
For the latest forecasts and warnings, go to our website https://t.co/4W35o8iFmh or the BOM Weather app. pic.twitter.com/zFRxfYVg5i
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 22, 2026
Coalition details plan to criminalise assisting people with links to Islamic State
Ted O’Brien, the shadow minister for foreign affairs, is speaking this morning about a new opposition plan to make it a criminal offence to help Australians with links to the Islamic State to return home.
The proposal comes as lawmakers wrangle over the future of 34 women and children stuck in Syria with links to dead or detained Islamic State fighters.
The Albanese government said the country will not assist in repatriation efforts, but those in the group have been issued passports and travel documents as is required by law.
O’Brien told RN Breakfast the plan would close a loophole in the law, saying it would bar the government from “outsourcing the repatriation of terror sympathisers back to Australia”.
He said the proposal should apply “across the board”. When pressed if a new law would include barring anyone from helping children come home to Australia, O’Brien said there would be no “automatic exemption” for kids.
The shadow minister also said the law could penalise non-governmental organisations like Save the Children if they were “assisting foreign fighters, families or sympathisers of terrorists”.
Victoria warns residents to be on alert for measles
Victorian health officials are warning of an increased risk of measles in the state, especially metropolitan Melbourne, after local transmission of the virus in the city among people with no recent travel or known public exposure.
Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself against measles.
Victoria’s acting chief health officer has pointed to a long list of public exposure sites, saying anyone who visited one during the times listed should monitor for symptoms for up to 18 days. Measles usually starts with fever, cough, a runny nose, sore eyes and a general feeling of being unwell. That’s usually followed by a rash that often starts on the face before spreading around the body.
A spate of summer international travel and a decline in childhood vaccination rates has seen cases rise around the country. Read more here:
Good morning
Nick Visser
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to get things started this week. Here’s what’s on deck:
Victoria is warning residents of an increased risk of measles in the state after local transmission of the virus in Melbourne among people with no recent travel or public exposure. Health officials have published a long list of exposure sites, warning people to monitor for symptoms.
Communities could be cut off and large parts of Australia disrupted by severe thunderstorms forecast to dump large amounts of rain. A weather system sitting over central Australia is expected to drag into the middle of the week, the Bureau of Meteorology warns.
The East West rail line, a major outback transport network, is currently closed after 24 hours of heavy rain and flooding caused track washaways of up to 100 metres in some places. The rail corridor connects South Australia with Western Australia and provides a rail link between WA with the eastern states.
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