The Albanese Government has blocked a Coalition bill that would make it a criminal offence to help Islamic State-linked families return to Australia.
The federal opposition sought to introduce legislation that would punish anyone who assists the so-called ‘ISIS brides’ to return to Australia with up to 10 years’ jail.
But the entire Labor Party blocked the bill from being debated or introduced to parliament on Tuesday afternoon, with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke branding the proposal ‘the shoddiest piece of legislation’ ever brought before the chamber.
Some 34 women and children linked 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.
While one person from the group has been issued a two-year temporary exclusion order barring their return, other members of the so-called ‘ISIS bride’ cohort have been granted Australian passports as they are citizens.
Burke said even flight attendants could face prosecution under the Coalition’s proposed bill.
‘This would criminalise the pilots of the commercial plane that flew them back. This would criminalise… the baggage handlers,’ Burke said.
Liberal leader Angus Taylor, who introduced the bill, said more needed to be done to ensure members of the cohort were unable to return to Australia.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke (pictured) launched a fierce attack on the bill, describing it as ‘the shoddiest piece of legislation’ ever brought before Parliament
34 Australian women and children, including ‘ISIS brides’ have attempted to return to Australia
‘We want to shut the door on returning ISIS sympathisers. Shut the door on Islamic extremism – the bill is a test for the Prime Minister.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously labelled the proposal hypocritical, highlighting that under the former Coalition government four women and 11 children were allowed to return to Australia in 2022, and eight orphaned children were repatriated from Syria in 2019.
‘They don’t have serious plans. If they did, they wouldn’t have allowed more than 40 people to come, including fighters, on their watch when they were in government,’ he said.
‘We, of course, have advice, but it’s the same advice that, frankly, the coalition got … which is why the laws that are in place are the laws put there by the coalition.
‘Our position is we’re not repatriating people and we’re not providing assistance.’
Albanese said the ISIS brides were entitled to enter the country because they are Australian citizens, but has avoided questions about whether he or his ministers attempted to speed up the issuing of passports.
Western Sydney doctor Jamal Rifi, a close friend of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, has been trying to repatriate women and children from the Al-Roj detention camp in north-east Syria.
After personally delivering their passports, he slammed the Coalition’s proposal as a ‘race to the bottom’.
Dr Rifi argued that enough time had passed to bring the 34 citizens back to Australia.
‘All the security experts are saying it is safer for them to be in Australia and monitored by all security agencies, rather than left there where nobody can monitor them,’ he said.
‘We are dealing with 23 innocent children – if they have issues with their mums they can take it up when they come back.’
Dr Rifi said because of the government’s hardline rhetoric, Syrian officials had not allowed the women and children to leave the refugee camp, for fear they might be turned back by another country on their way to Australia.
Burke confirmed the 11 ISIS brides had been issued Australian passports, but maintained the government was not ‘conducting repatriation’ for them or taking part in Dr Rifi’s private efforts.
Greens home affairs spokesperson David Shoebridge slammed the coalition for proposing non-government organisations such as Save the Children Australia be criminalised for helping Australians return home.
‘The idea that any serious Australian political party would make it a crime for Australians to try and help Australian children and bring them back to safety is a remarkable low, even in the current climate on the immigration debate,’ the senator said.