Australian officials don’t want women and children allegedly linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group to return to the country, but the threshold hasn’t been reached to bar them from receiving passports.
Some 34 women and children tied to Australians who travelled to the Middle East to fight for the terrorist group have been trying for days to travel home from a Syrian refugee camp.
The cohort has been issued with 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.”
The 34-strong cohort was not a coherent group, Burke added, but enough information was available to issue the single exclusion order.
“We know the different individuals, we know the state of mind and effective ideology of different individuals,” he said. “Our agencies have been following them for a long time.”
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 from their return.
Burke also rejected claims made in a report in the Sunday Telegraph asserting that official preparations were underway for the cohort’s return.
“In that report, it makes a claim that we are conducting a repatriation. We are not,” Burke said.
“It claims we have been meeting with the states for the purposes of a repatriation. We have not,” Burke added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was not in contact with any member of the cohort, but he threatened charges would apply if they came back 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.
“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, however 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,” the prime minister said. “There are issues there and the Coalition know that is the case.”
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson reiterated that the government should do more to stop the cohort’s arrival.
“It is very clear that the government can refuse a passport to an Australian citizen if they receive advice from a competent authority like ASIO or the AFP if a person is a threat to security,” he said. “Denying their passport would deal with that threat to security.”
The granting of a temporary exclusion order to one of the cohort meant further orders could be granted, Paterson added. “Those powers need to be used and this government seems very reluctant to use them,” he said.
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