Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has conceded it would be difficult to ban suspected ISIS fighters from Australia, saying the legal threshold was \u201creally tough\u201d to meet.<\/p>\n
It comes as 13 Australian men held in Iraqi prisons, suspected of fighting for Islamic State, have had their cases reviewed and may be released.<\/p>\n
Asked earlier whether he would use temporary exclusion orders to ban the men from returning to Australia, Mr Burke said the legal requirements would make it challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really tough threshold to meet legally,\u201d Mr Burke told Channel Seven\u2019s Sunrise on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, I\u2019ve only had one time when the department said that the threshold was met, and I was able to put an exclusion order in. I did that straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Burke said while the government would not assist the men to return, their status as citizens would limit the government\u2019s ability to prevent them from coming home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone\u2019s a citizen, eventually they can come back, but at the moment, every single one of these people is locked up, and I\u2019ve got no problem with that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are times when people are locked up around the world, and the Australian government takes steps to try to get them returned home \u2013 not with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The possible return of the men comes after six ISIS brides returned on May 26 as well as another four who returned on May 7.<\/p>\n
Several of the women have been charged with crimes against humanity and terror-related offences.<\/p>\n
There remains one ISIS bride in Syria who was previously subjected to a temporary exclusion order, which has since been revoked<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr Burke said the government was \u201caware of her location\u201d but did not confirm if she intended to return to Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cShe may well (intend to return), having seen some people who returned be arrested on arrival at the airport,\u201d Mr Burke said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019d be weighing up the different things that she\u2019s done, and would be making a decision as to whether or not she in fact ever returns.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the Albanese government came to power in 2022, at least 16 ISIS brides have returned to Australia having spent years in territory controlled by Islamic State.<\/p>\n The controversy follows months of escalating scrutiny over the government\u2019s handling of the ISIS brides and children held in camps in northern Syria.<\/p>\n In September 2025, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected claims his government was facilitating the return of ISIS brides, insisting there was \u201cno assistance\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr\u00a0Albanese denied that he misled parliament<\/a>\u00a0at the time, after he declared that reports of\u00a0imminent returns were \u201cwrong\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n However, NSW Police later confirmed that they had been briefed on preparations of the returns.<\/p>\n Questions intensified in February 2026 after reports emerged that ISIS brides had been issued Australian passports.<\/p>\n