Australia has issued passports to a group of Islamic State-linked women and children who are trying to return home from a Syrian refugee camp, a senior government minister has confirmed.

Federal police insist they are prepared to keep the community safe if the 34 partners and children of Australian-born Islamic State fighters are allowed back into the country, warning anyone who has committed a crime will face the full force of the law.

The opposition wants the entire group of so-called “ISIS brides” – who have been stuck in Syria since the fall of the caliphate in 2019 – to be blocked from entering Australia, arguing they could pose a security risk.

Pressed on whether the government had issued passports to the group, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said all citizens had a legal right to receive official travel documents.

“If anyone applies for a passport as a citizen, they are issued with a passport, in the same way that if someone applies for a Medicare card, they get a Medicare card,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Wednesday night.

Asked if that was “a long way of saying yes”, Mr Burke said he’d answered using the words he wanted to use.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had “nothing but contempt” for the parents who travelled to the Middle East and put their children at risk.

“We will do nothing to assist these people coming back to Australia,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday morning.

Some of the women have claimed they were coerced into leaving Australia.

The Australian Federal Police has revealed at least 10 people who had returned from Syria have been charged with crimes since arriving back in the nation, including nine men and one woman.

“Where Australians returning to Australia have allegedly breached Australian law, they will be, where appropriate, and on a case-by-case basis, subject to law enforcement action,” an AFP spokesperson said in a statement.

The government has blocked one of the women from returning home on security grounds, issuing them with a “temporary exclusion order” which allows it to block a person’s entry to Australia for up to two years.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said if one person had been barred from entry, the rest of the cohort should also be kept out of Australia to protect the community from harm.

But Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said it was disgraceful the government wasn’t doing all it could to bring the women and children home.

“These are Australian citizens. They need to be brought back, and the (security) concerns should be dealt with in Australia,” she told ABC TV.

“These people have been left to languish in refugee camps for too long.”

Australia’s biggest telecommunications company has increased first-half earnings, boosted the size of a share buyback and signalled a likely improvement in full year earnings.

Telstra reported a bottom-line net profit of $1.1 billion for the half year ended December, for a 9.4 per cent improvement on the prior corresponding period.

Its underlying earnings excluding depreciation also rose, by around five per cent to $4.2 billion – which was just under market expectations – after a small rise in total income to $11.8 billion.

Chief executive Vicki Brady said the telco’s first-half result was strong, building on disciplined cost control and capital management.

“Importantly, our mobiles business has continued to perform well,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

Growth in the unit was driven by higher average revenue per user, as more customers continued to choose its network, Ms Brady added.

Mobile services account for the majority of Telstra’s product income and generated a 3.6 per cent boost to $5.8 billion in the half.

The group’s underlying operating expenses fell by 2.4 per cent to $179 million, more than offsetting rising costs.

Telstra is also increasing its current on-market share buyback to up to $1.25 billion, from $1 billion, after completing $637 million in the first half.

“The on-market share buyback is expected to support earnings and dividend per share growth, and along with the increased interim dividend, reflects the board and management’s confidence in our financial strength and outlook,” Ms Brady said.

Telstra has tightened its 2025/26 full-year underlying earnings guidance to between $8.2 billion and $8.4 billion, after delivering $8 billion in the previous financial year.

Telstra shareholders will get an interim dividend of 10.5 cents per share.

What’s your superannuation fund?

That’s the question one in four Australians cannot answer at the top of their heads, as concern grows over workers’ lack of engagement with their retirement plans.

Some 26 per cent of Australians cannot name their super fund, with the figure growing to 28 per cent for young people aged 18 to 34, according to a survey from the peak body for super organisations. 

For those who do know, about a third seldom check their super balances or only do so once a year.

That leaves people at risk of retiring with less money that they could have, the Super Members Council warns.

“If you’re not checking your super regularly or if you’re not engaged with it, it may be that you miss out on thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars by retirement,” council chief executive Misha Schubert said.

Workers could be losing out on valuable compounding investment returns if they do not check that they have been paid super by employers, an issue affecting 3.3 million people and costing about $6 billion a year.

People who have not consolidated their super accounts could be paying multiple sets of fees. 

Modelling from the council shows paying 0.1 per cent more in fees could make someone $14,000 worse off at retirement, while paying one per cent more could make someone miss out on $128,000.

Ms Schubert said complacency might come from the fact that retirement was hard to imagine for those at the start of their working lives.

“For many young people, retirement feels like it’s such a long way off, and so it can be easy for them to get busy in their lives and to not think a lot about their super,” she said.

Young people are six times more likely to take action to improve their retirement savings when they better understood their super.

“The more engaged you are with your super, the more likely you are to take key decisions at life stages that will help strengthen your financial security in retirement,” Ms Schubert said.

Workers should make sure they are being paid all their super, consolidate their accounts into one, ensure they are with a top-performing fund and consider making extra contributions.

Subscription traps and dangerous products bought on marketplaces like Shein and Temu are in the crosshairs of a new digital focus for consumer protection.

The consumer watchdog will lay out its priorities for the upcoming financial year on Thursday, with online retailers to come under increased scrutiny.

The regulator is widening its focus to digital marketplaces after a year of heavy scrutiny on supermarket giants, including an ongoing court case against Coles for misleading pricing.

Businesses and consumers are being constantly bombarded with opaque marketing and junk items online, says the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

“We’re very concerned to see the proliferation of unsafe products in online marketplaces,” Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

Forcing the marketplace giants to sign up to a product safety pledge is one of the reforms being pushed.

Only AliExpress, Amazon and eBay have signed up to the ACCC’s voluntary pledge to co-operate on product safety.

Breaches of that code and the lack of oversight over China-based Temu and Shein was eroding trust among buyers, the ACCC said.

Of particular concern, unsafe baby products including items for sleep and devices containing button batteries are being sold on the giant online marketplaces.

“We don’t feel that we are able to access sufficient data that can properly bear upon product safety concerns,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

Elsewhere in the digital space, the watchdog has its eyes on influencers failing to properly disclose sponsored content.

Consumer bugbears will also be scrutinised including streaming services, gyms and phone providers that set subscription traps and then make it difficult to cancel deals.

The ACCC is conscious of a global atmosphere of declining trust in governments and regulators.

“We are seeking to be as clear, engaged (and) accessible about what we’re doing and why,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We are asking business no more than what we are asking ourselves – they must be accountable to meet the standards.”

Cracking down on scams has proved troublesome as Meta frustrates the regulator with four years of delays and dismissal applications in a key lawsuit.

Meta was sued by the ACCC in March 2022 for failing to remove scams on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

But the watchdog has achieved several high-profile penalties in recent months.

Health insurance giant Bupa was ordered in December to pay $35 million for misleading customers about benefits.

In September, embattled telco Optus was forced to pay $100 million in fines for targeting vulnerable customers with phone plans they could not afford.

The coalition might be enjoying a “reset” under new leadership but a test for the parties’ mended relationship is coming fast.

Newly elected Liberal leader Angus Taylor announced on Tuesday that suspended Nationals would be reinstated to the front bench when he unveiled his shadow ministry.

He allowed the Nationals MPs and senators serving a six-week suspension, part of the coalition reunion negotiated by ousted leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud, to return to their roles immediately.

The coalition’s messy split occurred in January and lasted 17 days after a row over hate speech laws that were made in response to the Bondi terror attack.

Ross Cadell, who was one of the three Nationals senators who crossed the floor over the contentious laws, said Mr Taylor waiving the suspension was “the reset that the coalition needed”.

“We had problems right from the beginning last time with the split. This is an unexpected and welcome accommodation,” he told AAP.

“If you want to know about the relationship, Littleproud and Angus had dinner on Friday night and got on well. 

“I don’t think I ever heard of David and Sussan sharing a cup of tea, let alone having a meal.”

Nationals MP Michael McCormack said Mr Taylor would bring a fresh approach to the coalition.

“Angus has obviously seen that it would be sensible to bring the National Party shadow ministers back into the … that’s appropriate, that’s sensible, that’s practical,” he said.

The shadow ministry reshuffle comes after Mr Taylor ousted Ms Ley in a party room spill last week after dire polling and infighting sparked calls for a leadership change.

A by-election looms for Ms Ley’s long-held seat of Farrer after she announced her resignation from parliament.

The two coalition partners do not typically compete against each other in most seats, but Farrer, which includes Griffith and the border city of Albury, is an exception.

The real test in the coalition’s “rejuvenated” relationship might lie in how the by-election unfolded, ANU political expert Zareh Ghazarian said.

“That may potentially be a point of friction between the two parties … it might pit them against each other,” Dr Ghazarian said. 

“It will be interesting to see the tone and the temperament of the debate between the coalition parties.

“That will give us a sense in real time about how the rejuvenated coalition is operating.”

Asked whether Mr Taylor and Mr Littleproud struck a new coalition agreement, deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume would not be drawn on details. 

“That’s not something we talk about it public,” she told ABC TV.

“They’ve spoken to each other every single day since they have a very good working relationship, and I’m really looking forward to now the coalition uniting.”

Australia’s unemployment is widely tipped to be on the rise once again following a surprise fall.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the first lot of labour force figures of 2026 on Thursday, with a slight rise to 4.2 per cent for January expected.

A fall in the seasonally adjusted rate to 4.1 per cent in December took forecasters by surprise.

NAB senior economist Taylor Nugent said a course correction was on the cards for January’s data.

It’s expected 20,000 more jobs will be added to the economy for the month.

“The past three Januarys have seen a 10 to 15 basis point rise in the unemployment rate that was partially reversed in February, because there have been more people unemployed but attached to a job they were waiting to start than was normal prior to the pandemic,” Mr Nugent said.

“That effect does seem to be fading year by year but after the surprise two-tenths fall in December, it does support the expectation for some reversal in January.”

The surprise drop in jobless numbers was driven by a rise of 65,000 employed people for December, with more 15 to 24-year-olds moving into work.

Wage figures released on Wednesday showed pay packets were not keeping up with inflation.

Seasonally adjusted wages rose to 3.4 per cent for the year to December, but below the 3.8 per cent for annual inflation.

It’s the first time there has been a drop in real wages since September 2023.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers did not say when he expected salaries to be above the rate of rising costs.

“It’s clear from the Reserve Bank’s forecasts that the inflation number will be higher than we’d like for a little while now this year,” he said.

“They’ve got inflation peaking around the middle of the year and then coming down after that, and that will have implications for real wages.”

The Prince of Wales has said there is a need for more “male role models” to talk about and normalise understanding of men’s mental health.

Prince William appeared on an episode of BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks and opened up about how he takes a “long time” to understand his emotions during a panel discussion about mental health and suicide prevention. 

“We need more male role models out there talking about it and normalising it so that it becomes something that is second nature to all of us,” the prince said.

“Not one person in this world has all the tools for every eventuality or mental state that is going to come across. 

“I like to go around looking for new tools to put in my toolbox when I might need it and if we look at it like that, it does normalise the idea that the brain just needs sometimes a little bit of help.

“It’s OK to ask for support, ask a mate, reach out.”

Over the course of the hour-long episode he also opened up about his own mental health and the importance of learning to love who you are as well as taking time to understand how you feel. 

“I take a long time trying to understand my emotions and why I feel like I do,” he said.

“And I think that’s a really important process to just do every now and again to check in with yourself and work out why you’re feeling like you do. Sometimes there’s an obvious explanation, sometimes there isn’t. 

“If we talk about that more and educate people more, then hopefully the idea of suicide gets keeps being pushed further and further away because you know that tomorrow actually you might wake up and you might feel very different.” 

William also recalled a time where he noticed his mental health was “deteriorating” after working as a pilot for the air ambulance service between March 2015 and July 2017, and the importance of taking “stock” of how you are feeling. 

He said: “If you listen to the body and have time to process your thoughts and your feelings, it will present itself to you. 

“It’s really important you have those moments where you take stock.

“It wasn’t until I stepped away from it on a sort of longer break that I looked at myself and went, ‘My god, I’m carrying everyone’s emotional baggage’. 

“It was really weighing me down.” 

The Prince of Wales continued to explain how the nature of emergency service jobs can take its toll on people due to how emotionally and physically demanding the work can be. 

He said: “It’s not until you step away from it, either that you retire or you have a break, which many of them don’t get long enough breaks, are you able to process what kind of attritional, mental, emotional experiences you’re having each time. “

The prince said he was “quite emotionally available”, but it sometimes came at a cost. 

“It helps me put my own life into perspective but also I carry with me their burden sometimes and that’s the bit I find very difficult is I feel other people’s pain and that overwhelms me sometimes,” he said.

“You want to fix it but you can’t necessarily fix some of the stuff and emotionally I find that very challenging.”

British inflation fell to its lowest since March 2025, according to official data that strengthens the case for an interest rate cut soon ‌by the Bank of England, even as a measure of underlying price pressures remains strong.

Consumer prices rose by 3.0 per cent in annual terms in January, slowing from a 3.4 per cent increase in December, the Office for National Statistics said, as transport, food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose less quickly.

Most economists polled by Reuters had expected headline inflation to drop to three per cent in January. 

The BoE projected earlier in February that ‌it would ease ‌to 2.9 per cent before a ⁠bigger fall in April to almost the central bank’s two per cent target.

Food inflation – which the ​central bank sees as key for shaping public expectations about prices more broadly – was the weakest since April 2025. 

Airline fares fell sharply on the month after jumping in December.

Core inflation, excluding energy, food and tobacco prices, rose by 3.1 per cent in January, its lowest rate since September 2021.

Sterling was little changed against the US dollar after the ONS data on Wednesday. 

Interest rate futures put an almost 80 per cent chance on a March ⁠rate cut by the BoE followed by another in late 2026.

Some warning signs remained for the BoE in Wednesday’s data.

Inflation for services – closely watched as a gauge of domestic price pressures – slowed only ​marginally to 4.4 per cent ‌from 4.5 per cent in December, above the Reuters poll expectations for a fall to 4.3 per cent.

“Given almost all the survey measures of prices ​suggest disinflation has slowed, the MPC will still have to be cautious this year, even as headline inflation drops,” said Thomas Pugh, chief economist at accountancy firm RSM UK.

“Indeed, services inflation is proving to be much stickier than headline inflation.”

British inflation ​has ​run higher than in the United States and in ​the euro zone where it stood at 2.4 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively, in ‌January.

The BoE expects the pace of price rises to slow sharply to almost its two per cent target in April as 2025’s rises in utility costs and other government-controlled tariffs fall out of the annual comparison.

Japan’s exports surged nearly 17 per cent in January from a year earlier, lifted by seasonal factors and strong demand in China and other Asian markets. 

Imports slipped 2.5 per cent from the same month a year earlier to 10.3 trillion yen ($A95 billion), while exports climbed 16.8 per cent to 9.19 trillion yen, the finance ministry reported on Wednesday.

That left a deficit of 1.15 trillion yen, less than half the trade deficit recorded a year earlier. 

Analysts noted that a key reason for the big jump early in 2026 was because the Lunar New Year occurs later than usual, falling on February 17. 

Japan’s economy depends heavily on exports and dramatic increases in tariffs by US President Donald Trump have taken a toll. 

The economy expanded at an anaemic 0.2 per cent annual pace in the last quarter, with growth for 2025 at just 1.1 per cent as weaker exports offset a modest increase in private consumption. 

Exports to the US fell 0.5 per cent in January, the latest data showed, while imports from the US rose three per cent. 

Exports to the US of vehicles, which account for about a third of the total, fell nearly 10 per cent. 

Despite antagonisms with Beijing over comments by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, Japan’s exports to China jumped 32 per cent year-on-year in January. 

Exports to all of Asia were robust, surging 26 per cent, the data show. 

Imports of semiconductors and other computer components showed the fastest growth, likely reflecting the impact of the boom in artificial intelligence, which has supercharged demand for data centre equipment and computer chips. 

“But the currently strong tailwind from the US AI boom is unlikely to last, suggesting that gains in exports to Asia excluding China will moderate,” Norihiro Yamaguchi of Oxford Economics said in a commentary.

He said exports were “highly likely to moderate” in March.

A state premier has ramped up a push to host a diplomatic summit that – if successful – would see Donald Trump become the first sitting US president to visit Australian soil in more than a decade.

In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli laid out his vision for the state to hold the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad.

The strategic partnership between Australia, India, Japan and the United States was formed in 2007 as a counterweight to Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr Crisafulli also views it as a commercial opportunity that would put Queensland on the world stage ahead of the Brisbane Olympic Games in 2032.

The last sitting US president to visit Australia was Barack Obama in 2014.

Asked how President Trump might be persuaded to come to Australia for the summit, Mr Crisafulli said “the US needs that relationship and Queensland needs the US”, adding his state was “in the box seat”.

He said Queensland had critical minerals the US needed for military hardware and other advanced technologies.

“When you’re talking about minerals that might be used for night vision goggles or hard-facing for military equipment, it’s big business, but also in terms of security, it’s very important,” Mr Crisafulli said.

The US was over-reliant on sourcing its minerals from other nations and states that were less politically stable than Australia, he said.

“In some cases, the US is getting up to 90 per cent of these individual minerals from one jurisdiction,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“You wouldn’t do that in any industry, let alone when you’re talking about geopolitical instability and relationships that can fracture.

“I see this as the next wave for Queensland’s economy … I have a view that Queensland is better placed than anywhere else.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was strongly supportive of Queensland hosting a future summit and funding had already been apportioned, Mr Crisafulli said.

There have been six Quad summits since 2021 – two in the US, two in Japan and two via video conference.

The last meeting, in September 2024, was held in the US state of Delaware and hosted by then-president Joe Biden.

India is due to host the next summit, with the date yet to be announced.

Australia was in line to host the following event, Mr Crisafulli said, noting Brisbane had previously hosted the G20 in 2014, attended by world leaders including then-president Obama.

Australia withdrew from the Quad in 2008 under Kevin Rudd’s Labor government.

The strategic partnership was resumed in 2017 when Australia re-entered under the coalition, then led by Malcolm Turnbull.

The Chinese government has previously issued official diplomatic protests to member nations to oppose the partnership.