Four Australian women who joined the Islamic State group, along with nine children, have reportedly booked plane tickets to return to Australia and hope to depart Syria within days after fleeing a detention camp. The group, consisting of Australian citizens, is making its second attempt to return since February, according to reports from The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Government stance on ISIS brides
Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek stated that the government is not assisting the so-called ISIS brides in their return and will apply the full force of the law if they reach Australian borders. “If people have broken the law overseas, they’ll face the full force of Australian law,” Plibersek told Sunrise host Nat Barr on Monday morning. “We’ve got our security and intelligence agencies obviously gathering information on this cohort and the broader cohort to make sure that we know as much about them as we possibly can.”
Plibersek emphasized that the government is bound by existing laws, which require issuing passports to Australian citizens who request them, but noted that loyalty ends if the law has been broken. “There’s nothing to stop us if these people manage to make it back; they can be picked up at the airport and face the full force of the Australian law,” she said. The government has already issued one temporary exclusion order based on advice from security agencies.
Labor has no sympathy for ISIS brides
“We’ve got no sympathy for people who have gone to fight with ISIS or support ISIS overseas,” Plibersek said. “People who took kids there, you know, it’s just impossible to believe that anybody would take their children into that warzone at that terrible time.” When asked about children being separated from mothers facing jail time, Plibersek said it is a consequence of breaking the law. “If these women have broken the law overseas, then they will face jail. And that is a decision they’ve made as adults,” she said. “If people break the law, then they have to face the consequences of breaking the law. Of course it’s sad for children to be separated from mothers who are in jail, that’s happening right now in Australia ... but if they made a decision to go there and fight with an organisation that was murdering, raping, enslaving people, then we’ve got zero tolerance for that.”
Political backlash and calls for stronger action
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce criticized the government, saying the women were complicit in horrific crimes committed by Islamic State and should be blocked from returning. “These are women, as they call themselves, wives, who were a party to some of the most horrendous crimes in the history of the world,” Joyce said. “They chose to go there. They were not taken there in handcuffs.” Joyce called for changes to the law to prevent the group’s return, arguing that if legislation is not strong enough, Parliament should strengthen it immediately. “If we got a temporary exclusion on one, we should be doing everything to get a temporary exclusion on the lot,” he said.
Plibersek defended the government’s position, pointing out that 40 people, including ISIS fighters, returned to Australia when Joyce was deputy prime minister. “It’s the difference between what you say and what you do,” Plibersek said. Barr noted that under the Morrison government, eight orphans and one newborn also returned in 2019, but Plibersek insisted the real number was 40. “When you were the second-most powerful person in the country, 40 people came back, including fighters,” Plibersek hit back at Joyce.
The government maintains it is following the advice of security and intelligence agencies, with Plibersek stating authorities are watching the group closely and may take further actions if they make it back to Australia.
