Australian news and politics live updates: Accused ISIS bride to walk from Melbourne court after bail win

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Divorced women with insufficient bank savings are tipped to be the biggest losers from Labor’s move to ban self-managed super funds from borrowing to buy an investment property.

Peter Burgess, the chief executive of the SMSF Association, said the Federal Government’s deal with the Greens would stop the likes of divorcees from using their retirement savings for a mortgage deposit to purchase a house or unit to rent out.

“They may not have that capital outside of superannuation, but they do have it in their superannuation fund,” he told The Nightly.

“It enabled superannuation members to access the investment property market like they may not have been otherwise.”

Houses have also proven to be strong capital investments over many decades and buying it through a self-managed super fund can boost retirement savings if a property was used for passive rental income or later sold.

The rules don’t allow self-managed super funds to buy residential properties for an individual to live in as an owner-occupier.

“People that have had some changes in their circumstances — divorces and other things — have found themselves behind where they want to be from a retirement savings point of view,” Mr Burgess said.

“These structures have been used to help them catch up and in some cases get ahead.”

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Another migratory giant petrel bird found near Esperance is suspected of being the State’s fourth positive case of the deadly H5 bird flu.

It was one of five deceased petrels found by a member of the public on Roses Beach, 30km west of the town in WA’s south, with samples from the four other birds returning a negative result to preliminary testing in Perth.

The samples have all been sent to CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong to confirm the results and determine if the suspected positive bird was indeed another case of the H5 strain making it to the West Australian shore.

So far just two cases have been formally confirmed in WA, a brown skua and giant petrel found in the same area, east of Esperance.

Results are still pending from of an earlier suspected positive detection in a giant petrel found at Quindalup, near Busselton.

Another giant petrel found in South Australia was also confirmed on Wednesday as that State’s first case of H5 avian influenza.

All cases have so far come from migratory birds with no indications of cases in poultry and no evidence of large-scale deaths in any wildlife.

Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said positive cases remained isolated.

“We have seen absolutely no evidence of any spread of this disease, it is only single migratory birds that have been found on beaches,” she said.

An accused ISIS bride will walk from court after winning her bid for freedom.

Kawsar Ahmad, 54, looked relieved and her supporters gasped as Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan granted her bail in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon.

It comes a week after her daughter Zeinab Ahmad, 31, lost her bid for bail in the same court.

The two women were in May charged with slavery offences after they both returned to Australia with other family members of former Islamic State fighters.

Prosecutors allege Kawsar Ahmad migrated to Syria with her husband Mohammed and their children to join IS around January 2015.

It’s alleged while in Syria in 2017, Mohammed bought a teenage girl as a slave and repeatedly raped and assaulted the girl.

Ahmad allegedly agreed to the purchase and treated the girl badly, often threatening her with beatings although she never assaulted the girl herself.

In opposing bail, Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told the court Ahmad was a risk to the community and there were concerns she would spread extremist ideology if released.

Ahmad’s defence barrister Peter Morrissey SC argued his client did not support IS and strict bail conditions including a ban on attending mosques would reduce any alleged risk.

Judge Hannan found the risk was so low that stringent bail conditions could be imposed to protect the community as she granted Ahmad bail.

Ahmad will walk from Melbourne Magistrates Court later on Friday.

- with AAP

An attack on a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz is a sign Australia’s inflation crisis could be prolonged and see the Reserve Bank increase interest rates again in August to combat a wage-price spiral.

While crude oil prices have fallen back to $US70 a barrel for the first time since the start of March, during the early days of the Iran war, secondary effects from the global oil crisis are yet to be felt.

Iran’s new Persian Gulf Strait Authority — established during the conflict to manage ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz — is refusing to guarantee safe passage of vessels.

“Any consequences arising from the use of unauthorised routes shall be the responsibility of the vessel’s owner, operator and master,” it said on X.

A Singapore-flagged cargo ship, identified by Reuters as Ever Lonely, was targeted by a drone, which could potentially delay supplies of crude oil to Asian refineries that supply Australia with 80 per cent of its petrol and diesel.

The UN’s International Maritime Organisation has since delayed the planned evacuation of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz following the attack.

​Read the full story.​

Victorian MP Matthew Guy has told colleague Moria Deeming she must apologise publicly after accusations of assault were made against him.

Victoria Police investigated the claims of Ms Deeming, something which they have now concluded without pressing any charges.

“My wife, my sons, my parents, my brother, my cousins, my family who share my name deserve those apologies as well. My family name, my reputation is not a political toy. No one’s is, and so I want, and my family deserve those apologies, particularly from Moira Deeming,” Mr Guy said on Friday.

“There was no ambiguity. I did not do what was alleged. The CCTV proves this. It did from the start, and Victoria Police agree.”

Mr Guy’s legal team said in a statement that women should always be believed, but so should men.

Mr Guy added: “The Premier and the Attorney General yesterday told every Victorian male over 40, they don’t have your back. They never believe you. In (their) eyes, you’re guilty before proven innocent.”

“To Aussie males who are sick of this treatment, who are sick of not being believed, some of us in parliament still have your back. I have your back. Your word matters as much as anyone else’s. You shouldn’t have to prove your innocence.”

Ms Deeming is yet to share a public comment.

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been hired by an Indian company specialising in worldwide visa and citizenship services, as the Liberal party he once led pushes to clamp down on Australia’s immigration levels.

His appointment to BLS International, which boasts it is a “globally trusted, tech-enabled, AI-powered service partner”, has also drawn sharp criticism, given the Morrison government’s role in the Robodebt scandal involving automated assessments.

“BLS International hopes to draw on Mr Morrison’s deep economic, trade, and commercial background to further its long-term growth vision built on the pillars of cutting-edge technologies, government engagement, public-service transformation and long-term institutional partnerships,” the New Delhi-based company said in a statement.

“Before and during his time in public office, his career heavily centred around market economics, financial regulation, infrastructure, and trade diversification.

“Mr Morrison has built a substantial track record working directly with corporate boards, private equity, and global advisory firms”.

Read Andrew Greene’s exclusive here.

During the domestic spy agency’s latest threat assessment, Director-General Mike Burgess said tech giants had a responsibility to help fight extremism.

“It’s something that many of us have actually pressed into,” Mr Burgess said.

“I’ve been on the record before talking about how young minds can go from like a couple of clicks to some really bad material that actually can radicalise them quickly.”

Anthony Albanese said it was not just violence but extreme porn was an increasing issue, with hospital admissions of strangulation and anal injuries “growing at an extraordinary, horrific rate”.

Read the full story here.

When asked if the tax reform package was “mission accomplished” for the government, Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned there was more to come.

“It’s the most important part of the most ambitious tax reforms in more than a quarter of a century,” he told ABC’s Radio National.

“We’re making the tax system fairer by better aligning the tax treatment of labour and asset income.

“There’s more work to do on the other significant elements of the tax reform package.”

He added that the changes shouldn’t come as a surprise, as his May Budget had made clear there would be ongoing “consultation” and “there would be multiple pieces of legislation” to follow.

Read the full story here.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it’s not his responsibility to give Australian workers the “green light to call in sick” as the country prepares for today’s Socceroos World Cup clash with Paraguay.

“Sick days are not part of my responsibilities as Treasurer. I suspect there will be a bit of that, I suspect there might be a few long-ish lunches, particularly if we win,” Dr Chalmers told reporters in Canberra.

“I think a lot of people might be finding a reason not to go back to the office after lunch if we win, and you know, that’s a good thing.”