Australia news as it happened: IS-linked families return to Australia; Labor announces gas reservation policy; Possible Jeffrey Epstein suicide note unsealed by US federal judge

Janai Safar is a 32-year-old former health science student and just arrived in Sydney alongside her nine-year-old son.

She travelled to Islamic State-occupied Syria from Australia in 2015 and was married to an IS fighter who is believed to have died in 2017.

Safar told The Australian in 2019 that she would never return to Australia because she feared arrest and didn’t want her son growing up in a non-Islamic country.

Her father, Samer Safar, said at the time he believed his daughter wanted to return to Australia, but was “stubborn”.

The families had been living in the al-Roj refugee camp in the north-east of Syria near the Iraq border.

Assistant Commissioner of the AFP Stephen Nutt was scarce on details while outlining the charges for three IS-linked women returning from Syria.

He refused to answer questions about the slavery charges during a press conference.

He said: “The names of the offences describe enslavement, which usually involve asserting control over the rights of the person. I’m not going to talk in any specific details about any case.”

Nutt was also asked about the fate of the children who had returned from Syria with their mothers. He would not say whether there was a specific plan in place to ensure their safety.

“All I can say is, safety of the community is the number one priority for all agencies involved.”

The media pack waiting at Melbourne Airport for almost five hours now is clearing out of the arrivals hall, after a woman, children and a man travelling with them boarded a bus and left the airport.

Police pursued the group as they were crowded by supporters and the media pack all the way from the arrivals gate to the taxi rank outside.

Journalists and camera operators shoved one another aside in their quest for quotes and images, particularly as the group boarded the bus, prompting the men supporting the returned group to yell for them to move several times.

Police cars were stationed outside the terminal with flashing lights following the group’s departure.

The arrivals hall has since returned to its usual hum, as families wait for loved ones arriving from overseas.

The AFP will address the media soon, following the arrest of three women who returned from Syria to Australia this evening.

Two women, aged 53 and 31, were arrested on arrival at Melbourne Airport today.

The third woman, arrested on arrival at Sydney Airport, was 32-year-old Janai Safar.

We reported earlier this evening that she had been taken to Mascot police station.

Sydney: Sydney Morning Herald photographer Sitthixay Ditthavong has captured Janai Safar being escorted from Sydney Airport to Mascot police station.

Melbourne: The number of people waiting for friends and family in the arrivals hall at Melbourne Airport has reduced to about a dozen, except for the group of men dressed in black.

Asked whether they have anything to say about why they’re here tonight, most of the men turned away and ignored questions from the media. One of the men, dressed in a black suit, simply mouthed “no”.

The police presence at the terminal is still small, with the group of men outnumbering officers.

Media have been talking to passengers from the Doha flight but most passengers were unaware the women and children from Syria were on board.

One ABC journalist who was on the same flight as the ISIS brides has joined the media pack waiting at the international terminal gate.