Australia news LIVE: Biloela family return home; Albanese and Ardern meet in Sydney; Calls for national COVID-19 database; state and federal ministers disagree over fossil fuels

Hi everyone, Angus Thomson here taking you into the long weekend.

As we reported this morning, thousands of travellers looking to get a head start on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend faced long queues at Sydney Airport as early as 5 am.

The Herald spoke to travellers Nicola Kypteos and Maddy Caesar, two of 80,000 holidaymakers expected to move through the airport today, who “just made it” on the plane to Brisbane for their connecting flight to Bali tomorrow.

Barista Sonya Paridisis was charged with easing the pain for passengers by providing free coffee in the overflowing queue. Crowds started to ease from 10 am but may peak again later this afternoon.

A further 60,000 travellers are expected on both Saturday and Sunday, followed by 70,000 on Monday.

An airport spokesperson said it was important that holidaymakers continued to arrive at the airport two hours before their scheduled departure time.

Priya, Nades and supporters spoke to media outside Thangool Airport a short time after touching down.

Priya said she was “very happy” to be home.

“Me and my family are very happy again [to] start our journey back to my community Bilo,” the mother of Kopika, 6, and Tharnicaa, 4, said.

“Thank you to all in Bilo community. I’m starting a new life … so happy, thank you.”

Family friend and supporter Bronwyn Dendle said the family’s return proved that “love really does conquer all”.

“It’s a special day for me personally because I haven’t had the opportunity to see my friends in the flesh since they were unnecessarily taken from us over four years ago,” she said.

“But it’s also a really special day for the community of Biloela and Australia.

“We are so, so grateful to have our beautiful little family home with us in Biloela.”

The Murugappan family spoke to the media after being reunited with friends and supporters in the Queensland community of Biloela.

Here’s what they had to say.

A man in his 40s returning to Victoria from travel overseas has been confirmed as the eighth case of monkeypox detected in Australia.

He is in isolation as the Victorian Health Department contacts a small number of his close contacts. Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, associate professor Deborah Friedman, said anyone with monkeypox symptoms including fever, head and muscle aches and exhaustion should seek immediate medical care, wear a mask and isolate.

The disease can be transmitted from person to person through air droplets, close bodily contact or sharing contaminated linens or objects.

Monkeypox is endemic in some parts of Africa, but a number of cases have been reported in several countries over the past month.

Eight cases have been confirmed in Australia so far, including five in NSW and three in Victoria.

AAP

The family of Tamil asylum seekers held in immigration detention for four years have arrived back in the regional Queensland town of Biloela.

The family - mother Priya, her husband Nades and their Australian-born daughters Kopika, 6, and Tharnicaa, 4 - were greeted with cheers from a small but vocal contingent of local supporters.

The family flew into the town from Brisbane on Friday, after the change in the federal government paved the way for their return from immigration detention in Perth.

They were taken from Biloela in March 2018 and were held at the Christmas Island detention centre for two years until former immigration minister Alex Hawke moved them to community detention in Perth in mid-2021.

Since their removal from Biloela, locals and activists launched a campaign to bring the family “Home to Bilo” where they have strong ties to the local community.

Thanks for reading our live news blog today. Here’s a recap of what has been making headlines so far:

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this morning, before addressing the media at a joint press conference just before midday. Topics covered by the pair include the Pacific and climate change. Ardern noted it was “good for our region and good for the world” when countries worked together, while Albanese said Australia “has got out of the naughty corner” after nine years of international condemnation on climate.
• Ardern was also keen to talk to Albanese about the deportation of NZ citizens from Australia after they served more than 12 months in jail here. “If a New Zealander comes to Australia and commits a crime, send them home, that’s wrong,” she said. “But when someone comes here and essentially hasn’t even really had any connection with New Zealand at all, has spent their entire formative years here ... sending them back to New Zealand, that’s where we’ve had the grievance.”
• Former US president Donald Trump incited the January 6 Capitol attack and was central to a sweeping and methodical conspiracy to overturn the 2020 US election despite the advice of his top aides and family members, a year-long investigation has found.
• Minister for Financial Services and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said the government is in discussions with Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to probe ways to regulate the ‘buy now, pay later’ sector. He wants to see a voluntary code of conduct for the sector become mandatory, to give businesses and consumers a “safe ecosystem”.
• The NSW government is to make its single biggest investment in renewable energy infrastructure, committing $1.2 billion to fast-track critical transmission projects to deliver cheaper and more reliable power.
• Long queues winding outside the domestic terminal at Sydney Airport have formed as travellers make an early start to their Queen’s Birthday long weekend. It’s a similar story in Melbourne, where many travellers have been braving long lines for check in counters and security.
• Leader of the House Tony Burke says the Albanese government is committed to the AUKUS deal: a trilateral security pact between Australia, the US and Britain. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said it would be a “disaster for our country” to step away from the AUKUS agreement.
• Some of Australia’s most respected infectious disease experts have warned that our systems for collecting information on coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths are poor and fragmented, preventing the country from properly preparing for the next wave of disease.

I’m off for the day, Angus Thomson will be taking over our live blog for the rest of your Friday. Thanks again for your company and have a wonderful weekend!

Washington: Former US president Donald Trump incited the January 6 Capitol attack and was central to a sweeping and methodical conspiracy to overturn the 2020 US election despite the advice of his top aides and family members, a year-long investigation has found.

In its explosive first public hearing, the Congressional committee investigating last year’s violent insurrection claimed that the attack was an “attempted coup” that put “2½ centuries of constitutional democracy at risk”, and that Trump was central to its execution.

“There is no room for debate. Those who invaded our capital and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what president Trump had told them: that the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president,” said the committee’s vice-chair, Republican Liz Cheney, who has broken ranks with her party to lead the committee.

“Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”

The January 6 insurgency took place shortly after Trump gave an incendiary speech to thousands of supporters repeating his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, urging them to “fight like hell” to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified by Congress that day.

The attack on the Capitol left several people dead, about 150 police officers injured and a nation shocked and divided.

We also ran a live blog of the Congressional committee hearing, you can read back here.