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<\/p>\nThe Coalition has branded a group of Australian children as terrorist “sympathisers” because their mothers travelled to Syria and married Islamic State militants.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader Angus Taylor escalated his attack on the federal government over its response to the so-called “ISIS brides” cohort that tried to leave the Al Roj detention camp in north-eastern Syria last month.<\/p>\n
With the region plunged into chaos following US-Israeli strikes on Iran an imminent second exit attempt is unlikely, but on Monday Mr Taylor argued the door must be “shut” to those in the group, who retain the legal right to enter Australia as citizens.<\/p>\n
The Coalition has also questioned why temporary exclusion orders (TEOs) have not been applied to some of the children among the group of 34 Australians seeking to return.<\/p>\n
This cohort includes 23 children aged between six and 18, as well as 11 adult women.<\/p>\n
Mr Taylor repeatedly called the group “ISIS sympathisers” and did not separate the underage children from that description when asked to clarify if he was including them.<\/p>\n
“They are ISIS sympathisers,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Let’s be clear, this is a group that have gone to the Middle East to support ISIS \u2026 there is no ambiguity about that. That’s why these people went.”<\/p>\n
One of the women in the group is the subject of a TEO, which prevents entry to Australia for up to two years, based on advice from national security agencies.<\/p>\n
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonno Duniam suggested TEOs should be applied to the underage Australians, who he described as “so-called children”.<\/p>\n
“Temporary exclusion orders [may] apply from kids between 14 to 17. Why haven’t they been had temporary exclusions applied?” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tony Burke has been grilled about the government’s involvement in attempts to return the women and children to Australia. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
Senator Duniam said he was “not sure” what assessment of the children had been conducted for “any risk that might apply”.<\/p>\n
He suggested they were not “two and three-year-olds still learning how to walk and talk”.<\/p>\n
“This a terribly complex situation \u2026 we have to have compassion for the children, but that does not mean we have to sacrifice national security,” Senator Duniam said.<\/p>\n
But Greens Senator David Shoebridge, who visited the Al Roj camp last year, argued the Australian children there are actually “victims of ISIS”.<\/p>\n
“They had no choice in going to Syria to have their childhoods devastated like this,” he said.<\/p>\n
Senator Shoebridge said the “first responsibility” of any Australian government was to “keep Australian children safe”.<\/p>\n
“It is extraordinary how few politicians in Canberra seem to understand this basic fact,” he said.<\/p>\n
Government maintains there has been no assistance<\/p>\n
The Coalition has seized on the issuing of single-use passports to the 34 women and children as a sign the government was assisting the group, while Labor has argued it was a legal requirement for bureaucrats to provide such documents to Australian citizens.<\/p>\n
In Question Time, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was grilled about the extent of the government’s knowledge or involvement in the attempted return of the women and children last month.<\/p>\n
He was asked about notes from a meeting held with Save the Children about the cohort in June last year<\/a> that contained a reference “TB” \u2014 assumed to mean Tony Burke \u2014 “stated a commitment to find a way”.<\/p>\n Wong will not say if further Islamic State family members on track to return<\/a><\/p>\n The Coalition seizes on meeting notes from June to claim the government is working to return Australian children and partners of Islamic State fighters.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The evidence clearly is there was no repatriation, that there was no assistance,” Mr Burke said.<\/p>\n “That is why the meetings were followed with a meeting from Save the Children complaining the government had refused to offer any support.”<\/p>\n Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also asked if any of his ministers or staff made representations to departments or agencies to “support or expedite” the issuing of the passports, but he did not directly answer.<\/p>\n Mr Albanese read quotes from former home affairs minister and Liberal leader Peter Dutton explaining the legal issues with denying Australians their right to return home.<\/p>\n “We’re operating under the law,” the prime minister said.<\/p>\n But he insisted the government was not “repatriating” or assisting the group.<\/p>\n Return to Australia stalled<\/p>\n In February the cohort left the Al Roj camp but were forced to abort their mission when Syrian authorities would not allow them to pass a checkpoint.<\/p>\n Western Sydney doctor and advocate for the group, Jamal Rifi, subsequently blamed Mr Albanese’s rhetoric as one of the “biggest obstacles” for the group’s return.<\/p>\n