3m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:15pm
Not everyone on team will take up Australia’s offer of assistance: Burke
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the women granted humanitarian visas want to make it clear they are athletes and not political activists.
“They’re athletes who want to be safe and are very grateful that Australia is taking that opportunity,” he says.
He says the women on the team have had to weigh up an “incredibly difficult decision”.
“I respect that,” he says.
“Not everyone on the team will make a decision to take up the opportunity that Australia would offer them. What matters here is that they have the best agency they can over those decisions.
“So we’re making sure that the opportunity to seek assistance is there.”
6m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:12pm
AFP moved women to safe location yesterday
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says there has been a lot going on in recent days to make sure there were a “maximum number of opportunities” for the women to seek assistance.
“We didn’t know whether any would seek assistance. In the very early hours of yesterday morning, the conversation started in earnest,” he says
“Once that happened during the course of yesterday, it was made clear that there were five women who wanted to be able to stay in Australia.”
Burke says the women were moved to a safe location by the Australian Federal Police.
He says the offer remains open to the remaining members of the team.
9m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:09pm
Burke confirms five of the Iranian women’s team told they are welcome to remain in Australia
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed the government has offered humanitarian visas to five Iranian soccer players.
“I was able to tell five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, that they are safe here, and they should feel at home here,” he says.
16m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:02pm
Anthony Albanese to speak shortly as well
When it rains, it pours.
We’ve just got confirmation that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will also hold his own press conference this morning in Parliament House.
Don’t worry, I’ll have it all covered in the live blog so stick around.
18m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 8:00pm
We’re standing by for a Tony Burke press conference
The home affairs minister is due to give a statement about the Iranian women’s soccer team in Brisbane.
It comes after the US President Donald Trump took to social media overnight to confirm he’d spoken to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was “on it”.
“Five have already been taken care of and the rest are on their way,” he wrote.
29m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 7:49pm
Trump says Iranian football players have been ‘taken care of’
Five Iranian female soccer players who would likely have faced persecution if they returned to Iran are now safe with police and claiming asylum in Australia, as Donald Trump praised the prime minister for being “on it”.
The US president had earlier lashed out at Anthony Albanese, suggesting in a post on Truth Social that the women were being forced to leave Australia when they could be punished back in Iran.
After a conversation with the PM, however, Trump added: “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
Fears had been growing they would be targeted by the Iranian regime upon their return, after they were labelled “traitors” on Iranian state TV.
The American leader praised his Australian counterpart on “doing a very good job” in a “rather delicate situation”.
35m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 7:43pm
Labor MP warns against ‘dangerous’ linking of Israeli government to antisemitism
A federal Labor MP has strongly cautioned against linking the actions of the Israeli government to rising rates of antisemitism in Australia, describing it as a “dangerous equation” that he has seen inside his own party.
Josh Burns also acknowledged the government had not always acted fast enough to deal with antisemitism and said it was necessary to be “humble” in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
“No matter what happens, or no matter what the Israeli government does, you cannot hold responsible Jewish Australians for whatever your views are of that action,” he said.
“It’s just wrong, and it’s dangerous, and I’ve seen people, even in my own political organisation, draw that comparison.”
Mr Burns — who is Jewish — made the comments during the first ABC National Forum, where he appeared alongside other members of the Australian-Jewish community.
During the program, which examined the experiences of Jewish-Australians in the lead up to and after the Bondi terror attack, the Macnamara MP also detailed the difficulties of being a Jewish politician at this moment in history.
You can read the rest of our wrap of the National Forum below or catch up on iView.
36m agoMon 9 Mar 2026 at 7:41pm
👋 Good morning
Hi pals. I’m Courtney Gould from the ABC’s Parliament House team.
I’m expecting Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to stand up any moment now in Brisbane, where he’ll give us an update on the Iranian women’s soccer players.
It comes after US President Donald Trump confirmed he spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese overnight after he called for the women to be given asylum in Australia after the team faced criticism from Iran for refraining from singing the national anthem before a match.
Let’s jump straight in.
