标签： Oceania

Australia’s top federal law enforcement official has publicly outlined why authorities rejected a proposed voluntary surrender from former elite SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, amid growing political scrutiny over the high-profile war crime arrest that has gripped national attention.

In a defiant address during a Thursday Senate estimates hearing, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett defended the agency’s April decision to arrest Roberts-Smith at Sydney Domestic Airport, pushing back against widespread public and political backlash over the handling of the case.

Barrett stressed that all investigative and procedural choices made by the AFP and the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) were rooted in principle, aligned with federal legislation and governance frameworks, and guided solely by evidence – not the notoriety or public standing of any individual.

“We take an oath that we will faithfully and diligently carry out our duties without fear or favour, without affection or ill will. This is an extremely important point the Australian public can know,” Barrett told the hearing. “The AFP will determine cases on the evidence in front of us, and not because of name, fame, or background of any individual.”

The hearing comes after days of questioning from Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash, who has challenged law enforcement officials over their approach to the Roberts-Smith case. In her detailed opening remarks, Barrett broke down the operational logic behind arresting Roberts-Smith at the Sydney airport rather than allowing him to turn himself in, or arresting him in the state of Queensland.

Barrett explained that airports are classified as “sterile environments” with mandatory passenger screening and contained perimeters, factors that make arrest operations far safer for both responding officers and members of the public. Investigators also confirmed they had intelligence that Roberts-Smith had no known permanent address and was actively planning to relocate overseas, eliminating the option of waiting for a voluntary surrender. The choice of Sydney over Brisbane was a collaborative operational decision reached with partner agencies, Barrett added, dismissing widespread media speculation about hidden motives for the location as entirely inaccurate. She also noted that OSI officers were deployed specifically to the airport to provide support for Roberts-Smith’s family members who were travelling with him at the time of arrest.

Addressing reports that Roberts-Smith had offered to hand himself in voluntarily ahead of the airport operation, Barrett confirmed that law enforcement had ultimately ruled the proposal unworkable. Citing the gravity of the charges against the former soldier – five counts of war crime-related murder, each carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment – Barrett said the surrender option was never considered a viable path for the investigation.

Barrett also addressed unconfirmed reports of sensitive investigative information being leaked to media outlets ahead of the arrest. While she stressed there is no concrete evidence the AFP leaked any details, she confirmed the matter has been referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission as a precautionary measure. “If the date of the individual’s arrest or other sensitive information was disclosed to anyone in the media, this could be an unauthorised disclosure, and in my view, anyone who disclosed that information should face consequences,” she said.

Roberts-Smith was granted strict conditional bail earlier this year following his arrest. He has consistently maintained his innocence on all charges, has not entered any formal pleas, and his court proceeding remains ongoing.

Australia’s national top law enforcement official has publicly confirmed that counter-terrorism units are currently running eight independent investigations into women and children with known ties to ISIS fighters, a disclosure that comes amid a fresh wave of repatriations from Syrian detention camps and a high-profile recent terrorism charge.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett outlined the scope of ongoing investigations during a Thursday appearance before a Senate estimates hearing, noting that probes are not limited to people who have already returned to Australian territory — a number of subjects of interest still remain overseas.

The confirmation of the eight active investigations follows the charging of 34-year-old Rayann El Houli earlier the same day. El Houli, who returned to Australia from Syria last year, faces two criminal allegations: entering and staying in a declared terrorist active zone, and formal membership of a proscribed terrorist organization. She made her first court appearance on the same day charges were filed.

One of the largest ongoing probes, codenamed Operation Howth, centers on three people — one man and two women — who are accused of traveling to Syria between 2013 and 2024 to join the Islamic State terror group. Commissioner Barrett told the hearing that two of the subjects, the women, returned to Australia with their children in September 2025 from the al-Hawl detention camp in northern Syria, a facility that has held thousands of family members of alleged ISIS fighters for years. The third subject, the man linked to the two women, remains imprisoned in a Middle Eastern prison, per police accounts.

After the two women’s 2025 repatriation, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions initially concluded there was not enough admissible evidence to bring criminal charges against them. In line with that guidance, the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team — a multi-agency unit made up of local Victoria Police, the AFP, and Australia’s national intelligence agency ASIO — chose to keep Operation Howth active while the women integrated into Australian communities.

Barrett explained that over the course of the ongoing six-month domestic investigation, and following the repatriation of another four women and their children from Syria just three weeks ago, investigators have obtained significant new evidence that ties back to the original Operation Howth probe, renewing its momentum.

Beyond Operation Howth, Barrett confirmed that a total of eight separate Joint Counter Terrorism Team investigations are active across the country, targeting family groups that either have returned from Syrian detention camps or still remain outside Australia. She pushed back against any assumptions that delays in filing criminal charges signal that investigations have been abandoned, pointing to El Houli’s charging as a clear example of how probes can take time to yield charges.

“Any perceived delay in charges does not indicate investigations have ceased. Today’s arrest and charge is a case in point,” Barrett told the hearing.

The commissioner outlined three core messages the AFP and its partner agencies want to communicate to the Australian public. First, the national force and its counter-terrorism partners remain fully committed to protecting community safety. Second, any alleged victims or witnesses with relevant information are still able to come forward to cooperate with investigations. Third, all individuals who have returned to Australia from conflict zones tied to ISIS remain subject to a broad range of active investigation strategies, regardless of whether charges have been filed yet.

Since 2019, a total of ten Australian citizens have been charged with terrorism-related and foreign incursion offences linked to travel to conflict zones: seven men and three women. Three of those women were charged earlier this year immediately after their return from Syria, and are currently before the courts facing a series of serious charges, including crimes against humanity and the possession of an individual as a slave.

In testimony before a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday, Australia’s Special Envoy on Antisemitism Jillian Segal has drawn a direct link between the police handling of a high-profile post-October 7 protest outside Sydney Opera House and the sharp rise of antisemitic sentiment across the country, arguing the nation could have avoided its current trajectory if the demonstration had been addressed differently. The protest, held on October 9 2023 just two days after Hamas’ surprise cross-border attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people, drew hundreds of demonstrators gathering near one of Australia’s most iconic cultural landmarks, in response to both the initial assault and Israel’s subsequent military retaliation in Gaza. According to Segal, multiple participants chanted deeply hateful rhetoric targeting Jewish people during the event, which included the burning of an Israeli flag. While Segal acknowledged ongoing public debate over unconfirmed claims that protesters chanted the phrase “gas the Jews”, she emphasized the demonstration marked an unambiguous turning point where blatant hatred toward Australia’s Jewish community was aired publicly. Segal told the hearing that if law enforcement had adopted a far firmer approach — rather than the protective posture officers took toward demonstrators — it would have sent a clear, uncompromising message that antisemitic speech has no place in Australian public life. “If it had been stopped and people had said ‘this is unacceptable’, and the police instead of protecting those protesters had indeed taken them, even if not arresting them, but asked them to move on … If there had been a completely different policing approach, I do think it would have sent a very different message and possibly a different trajectory,” Segal said. “As I say, you can’t look backwards, but I do see and I think the Jewish community generally, when I’ve spoken to them about it, they see that as a critical moment.” Segal added that the surge in antisemitic incidents across Australia following the October 7 attack caught the nation off guard, after decades of growing complacency built on widespread pride in the country’s multicultural values and commitment to open civic freedoms. “We were caught up in our enjoyment of the freedoms and the Australian values and multiculturalism, and perhaps we’re not as aware of the issue until it really became an issue for us,” she said, noting that her core mandate is to push antisemitism back to the margins of Australian society. The hearing also touched on ongoing tensions over the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, a widely-endorsed framework that Segal has pushed for nationwide adoption. Earlier this month, two of Australia’s leading public broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, announced they would not adopt the definition, a decision Segal said directly contradicts the policy guidance she has put forward to Australian institutions. “I’m hopeful that, with further discussion, we can talk to the ABC and SBS,” she said. “I have had various meetings with them, but so far I haven’t managed to convince them about it, about these issues. But, you know, I do think that it’s important that the ABC and SBS understand their important role in this country.” On the topic of public sector antisemitism literacy, Segal confirmed that targeted training is currently being trialed for the Australian Public Service (APS), with a focus on delivering tailored education for senior public servants first. She rejected a one-size-fits-all approach to the training, arguing that depth of antisemitism education should be scaled to the role and responsibilities of each public servant, while noting she expects a “significant” portion of APS staff will complete the program once it rolls out fully.

As Australia’s Fair Work Commission prepares to deliver its annual minimum wage ruling this Tuesday, the country’s largest trade union body has amplified urgent calls for a substantial 6 percent pay hike for the nation’s 3 million lowest-income workers, framing the demand as a critical measure to prevent working households from cutting essential spending on food and healthcare.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) anchored its argument in newly released inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, published Wednesday, which put annual headline inflation at 4.2 percent for the 12 months ending in April – down from 4.6 percent in March, but still well above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) target 2 to 3 percent inflation band. Crucially, the RBA closely monitored trimmed mean inflation, which excludes volatile price swings for food and energy to reveal underlying economic pressures, climbed to 3.4 percent over the same period, confirming persistent upward pressure on everyday costs.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus emphasized that for one in four Australian workers, the annual minimum wage review is the only opportunity to secure a pay rise that matches rising living costs. “Workers have already fallen 4.5 percent behind on real wages since March 2021, as persistent cost-of-living pressures have outpaced incremental wage gains year after year,” McManus said. “When rent, mortgage repayments and utility bills are fixed non-negotiable costs, any pay increase that falls short of inflation leaves workers with no option but to cut back on basics – cutting back on groceries, skipping necessary doctor’s appointments just to make ends meet. A 6 percent increase is the very least needed to help low-paid workers get ahead of the growing pressure.”

Currently, Australia’s national minimum wage sits at $24.95 per hour, or $948 per week. If the ACTU’s demand is adopted, the rate would rise to $26.45 per hour and $1004.88 per week, with most award-reliant workers earning additional penalty rates and allowances on top of this base pay.

But the proposal has faced pushback from peak business groups, who argue that a steep wage hike would add unsustainable pressure to already struggling businesses and risk broader economic instability. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has instead called for a far more modest 3.5 percent minimum wage increase, warning that businesses are already grappling with a cascade of rising costs across the board.

“Businesses are being squeezed from every direction,” ACCI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar explained. “Fuel prices are climbing, profit margins are already stretched thin, and business confidence continues to weaken. On top of existing pressures from rising inflation, interest rate hikes, soaring insurance and commercial rent costs, growing compliance burdens, and the recent elimination of card surcharges, a large wage increase would push many operations to the breaking point. The Fair Work Commission must account for the cumulative weight of these pressures. A measured, moderate outcome is essential to protect existing jobs, keep small and medium businesses viable, and safeguard the overall Australian economy.”

The Fair Work Commission is scheduled to announce its final ruling on the new minimum wage this Tuesday, with the outcome set to shape household finances and economic trajectory across the country for the coming year.

An 18-month long counter-terrorism investigation by Australian law enforcement has culminated in charges against five Victorian men accused of holding a cache of violent extremist content, including ISIS propaganda and footage of past terror attacks. The investigation traces its origins back to late November 2024, when a man returning to Australia from Turkey was found to have suspicious material stored on his personal mobile device. A deep dive into that device uncovered a coordinated pattern: the group had been sharing prohibited extremist content among themselves via online channels, including promotional material from the banned terrorist organization ISIS and visual records of violent terror attacks.

In early May, Australian Federal Police (AFP) launched coordinated raids on four residential properties across Melbourne, where four of the accused — 21-year-old Mohammad Ahmadzai, 20-year-old Azan Syed, 29-year-old Sulaiman Sarwari and 19-year-old Adian Sarwari — were taken into custody and charged with possession of violent extremist material. A fifth suspect, a 25-year-old man, was taken into custody weeks later on May 16, when he arrived at Melbourne International Airport on a flight returning from Malaysia, and faces the same criminal charge.

During a hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, Sulaiman Sarwari appeared alongside his legal team, with his barrister Siobhan Stary requesting modifications to two existing bail conditions, including the mandatory requirement for in-person court attendance to review bail compliance. With no opposition raised by the prosecution, Magistrate Donna Bakos granted the request, relaxing the bail conditions for the accused. The image of the post-hearing proceeding was captured by NewsWire photographer Ian Currie.

AFP Counter Terrorism Commander Paula Hudson publicly announced the laid charges on May 8, emphasizing the critical role of early intervention in counter-terrorism policing. “Early intervention allows us to disrupt individuals before they progress to more severe forms of offending,” Hudson explained. “We allege these men were actively sharing material inspired by ISIS, a terrorist organisation responsible for mass atrocities and violent religious persecution around the world.” All five accused are scheduled to reappear in court between late July and early August, with the legal process set to move forward in the coming months.