‘ISIS bride’ member barred from return to Australia
Andrew Brown |
One of the Australian cohort of so-called “ISIS brides” and their children has been barred from entering the country while trying to flee Syria.
The group of 34 women and children had tried to leave the Al Roj refugee camp in Syria on Monday with the intention of trying to make it to the capital Damascus and then on to Australia.
They were sent back because of an administrative issue, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised that the government would not offer the partners and children of Islamic State members repatriation aid.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said one of the group had been assessed by security agencies as meeting a threshold to be banned from entering the country, despite being a citizen.
“I can confirm that one individual in this cohort has been issued a temporary exclusion order, which was made on advice from security agencies,” Mr Burke said in a statement on Wednesday.
“At this stage, security agencies have not provided advice that other members of the cohort meet the required legal thresholds for temporary exclusion orders.”
A temporary exclusion order stops Australian citizens from returning to the country from overseas for up to two years if they are deemed a security risk.
The opposition has for days been calling for the government to take the step.
Mr Albanese earlier said the government was taking national security advice about the cohort in Syria.
“We will implement the law to its fullest capacity that we can. We want to make sure that Australians are kept safe,” he told reporters in Tasmania.
“These are people who chose to go overseas to align themselves with an ideology which is the caliphate, which is a brutal, reactionary ideology and that seeks to undermine and destroy our way of life.
“We are providing no assistance to these people, and won’t provide any assistance to these people, but we won’t breach Australian law.”
AAP