Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said his government would not help Australians in Syrian refugee camps with links to suspected Isis militants return home.
A group of 34 Australians, including 11 women and 23 children, left for Australia via Damascus from the Al Roj refugee camp in northeastern Syria on Monday.
However, shortly after the 11 families left the camp, Syrian government authorities forced them to return to Al Roj and did not allow the convoy to head to the Syrian capital, ABC reported.
The women, dubbed as “Isis brides”, were among those who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the terror group. Many of them married fighters, and some even took up armed roles. After the fall of the “caliphate” in 2019, these women and the children were detained at two camps, the Al Hol and Al Roj. Human rights activists have reported violations of children’s rights at these camps.
Mr Albanese on Tuesday told ABC News that the federal government will not intervene or provide them with "any assistance or repatriation".
"My mother would have said if you make your bed, you lie in it," Mr Albanese said. "We have a very firm view that we won't be providing assistance or repatriation.”
"These are people who went overseas supporting Islamic State and went there to provide support for people who basically want a caliphate," he said, referring to an Islamic state governed according to Sharia law.
The 11 families were returned to the detention centre due to "technical reasons", two sources told Reuters on Monday.
A spokesperson for home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said Australia's security agencies had been monitoring the situation in Syria, and said those who had broken the law would be prosecuted.
"People in this cohort need to know that if they have committed a crime and if they return to Australia they will be met with the full force of the law," he said.
For years, successive Australian governments have resisted the pressure to bring back the women and children from these camps. There have been mounting pressure from humanitarian and legal organisations calling for their evacuation from Syria. The groups have warned that the conditions in detention facilities were grim and even life threatening.
Isis is a listed terror organisation in Australia, with membership of the group punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Australia also has the power to strip dual nationals of citizenship if they are Isis members.
Mr Burke said the federal government was getting advice on whether the threshold for temporary exclusion orders (TEOs) had been met.
TEOs allow the government to prevent Australians aged 14 and over from returning to the country for up to two years without a permit if they are assessed as posing a national security threat.
"We will always act in accordance with advice from our law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies," he said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Return of relatives of suspected Isis militants has become a contentious political issue in Australia. The opposition parties have said the families linked to Isis posed a security risk to Australia and argued against their return.
"For anyone who shares, or potentially shares ISIS ideology, this is the ideology that underpinned the Bondi terrorist attack," said Liberal senator Sarah Henderson.
"Australians must be given every confidence that for people who are linked with ISIS, that all of the appropriate security assessments have been made."
It comes amid a surge in support for the right-wing, anti-immigration One Nation party led by Pauline Hanson.
A poll this week found One Nation's share of the popular vote at a record high of 26 per cent, above the combined support for the traditional centre-right coalition currently in opposition.
"They hate Westerners, and that's what it's all about. You say there's great Muslims out there, well I'm sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?" Ms Hanson said in an interview on Sky News on Monday, following news of the suspected Isis family members return. The comments were criticised by members of Ms Hanson's party.
Australian citizens have a legal right to enter the country under both local and international law.
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