Anthony Albanese has ruled out helping a convoy of Australian families previously tied to ISIS who have been trying to return home from Syria.
Syrian media reported over the weekend that a group of 11 families, made up of 34 women and children, were planning to travel from the Al Roj refugee camp in northeastern Syria to the country’s capital, Damascus.
But the prime minister has ruled out any support from the federal government.
‘We have a very firm view that we won’t be providing assistance or repatriation,’ Albanese told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday.
‘We want to make it clear, as we have to the people involved, if there are any breaches of the law then they will face the full force of the Australian law.
‘My mother would have said, ‘If you make your bed, you lie in it.’
‘These are people who went overseas … and went there to provide support for people who basically want a caliphate.’
The families reportedly left the refugee camp on Monday morning under the escort of Kurdish security forces, who are in control of a small section of north-eastern Syria.
Anthony Albanese has ruled out helping a convoy of Australian families previously tied to ISIS who have been trying to return home from Syria
Syrian media reported over the weekend that a group of 11 families, made up of 34 women and children, were planning to travel from northeastern Syria to the country’s capital, Damascus
However, Syrian authorities did not allow the convoy to continue to the capital and ordered their return to Al Roj.
Sources told the ABC the group consisted of 34 people who had already been issued Australian passports.
It is unclear whether the group had obtained the passports or were going to collect them in the capital.
They were to go to Damascus and plan the trip to Australia from there.
On Tuesday, Liberal Senator Jonno Duniam demanded transparency from the Albanese government, claiming there had been ‘secret meetings’.
He claimed notes from those discussions implied a willingness to ‘pave the way’ for the families’ return.
‘The Albanese Government must prove to Australians they are finally serious about protecting our country from the risks associated with returning ISIS brides,’ he said.
‘The government must commit 100 per cent to doing everything to prevent these people from re‑entering Australia while they present a risk.
Pictured, family members of suspected Islamic State militants who are Australian nationals sit in a van heading to the airport in Damascus
‘These are people who have been part of a group that want to attack our way of life and are a very serious risk to our society.’
Duniam also called for the government to issue Temporary Exclusion Orders, saying it was the least it could do and ‘anything less will be a failure’.
Temporary Exclusion Orders are ministerial orders which legally prevent citizens aged 14 and over from re‑entering Australia for up to two years, to manage security threats.
Last week, the government confirmed it would continue to allow the women linked to ISIS, known as ‘ISIS brides’, and their children to return to Australia by their own means.
Under current rules, the families are allowed to return, however the government does not provide them with assistance or conduct repatriation efforts.
The policy was confirmed by Environment Minister Murray Watt during a Senate estimates hearing on February 10.
The government previously warned Australians who came back from Syria who were found to have committed crimes overseas would be punished on return.
In September, two women and four children linked to Islamic State fighters returned to Australia after getting themselves out of Syria via Lebanon.
They had fled the Al-Hol detention centre in northeast Syria.
The group was then issued Australian passports after security and DNA checks, with the department briefed three months earlier than the group intended to return.
