Passport law overhaul urged to stop ‘ISIS bride’ cohort
Andrew Brown |
Laws should be tightened to stop an Islamic State-linked cohort from obtaining passports and returning to Australia, the opposition says.
But the minister responsible insists the threshold has not been reached to bar the group from receiving travel documents, despite declaring the government does not want them to return.
Some 34 women and children tied to Australians who travelled to the Middle East to fight for the militant group have been trying for days to travel home from a Syrian camp.
The so-called “ISIS brides” have been issued Australian passports – a right afforded to citizens – but one of the women has been given a temporary exclusion order, barring their re-entry for up to two years.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said security agencies had not passed on any advice that would block the group from receiving the required travel documents to return to Australia.
“There’s been no advice from ASIO that the passports act provisions have been activated,” he told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
“On the information that we have, the best way to protect Australians has not involved any further temporary exclusion orders.
“We don’t want them to come back … we’re actively making sure we do nothing to help them.”
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam said laws needed to be changed to stop the cohort from being issued passports.
“If the government are serious about not wanting these people to come back, toughen the laws, keep them out, protect the safety of our country,” he said.
“How is it that a group of people who have travelled to Syria, who no doubt had their passports revoked when they travelled to these declared areas under the criminal code, are now eligible for a passport?”
Experts have warned members of the group could face a greater chance of radicalisation if they are forced to stay in Syria.
The 34-strong cohort was not a coherent group, Mr Burke said, but enough information was available to issue the single exclusion order.
“Our agencies have been following them for a long time,” he said.
The minister noted a majority of the cohort were born in Australia and he confirmed state and federal agencies had been working together to mitigate any potential risks during their return.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was not in contact with any member of the cohort, but threatened charges could apply if they returned to Australia.
“Australian citizens have rights and they also have responsibilities, and those responsibilities mean that the Australian government, like with anyone else, will apply the full force of the law to anyone who has broken Australian law,” he told Sky News.
“What we have is a situation whereby, is Australia providing repatriation, which did occur in 2019 and 2022? No is the answer to that.”
Labor has been under pressure from the opposition to block the entire group from entering Australia, but Mr Albanese said his government was operating under laws introduced by the coalition.
“When it comes to the issue of citizenship, that has rights as well under our constitution,” he said.
“There are issues there and the coalition know that is the case.”
Senator Duniam said previous repatriations of Australians with links to Islamic State under the Scott Morrison-led coalition government had only been orphaned children.
AAP