IS brides accused of ‘child abuse’
A senior government minister accused some women affiliated with the Islamic State in Syria of child abuse, as the opposition demanded the group be banned from returning home.
A group of 34 women and children linked to Australians who went to the Middle East to fight against ISIS have been trying to return home from a Syrian refugee camp in recent days.
Senior Labor Minister Tanya Plibersek has voiced some of the strongest criticism yet of women who took their children to the Middle East during the rise of the Islamic State.
“Taking children into a war zone like this is child abuse,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“It is important to understand the responsibility these parents have in making this decision.”
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed women were generally issued Australian passports, a right all citizens have.
But Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said additional powers should be used to refuse women’s passport applications.
“They have the power to refuse passports and the government has not answered the most basic questions about why these things are not being used or the extent to which they are trying to use them,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
One of the women was banned from entering Australia for two years due to national security concerns, and government officials said the group could face criminal charges if they returned home.
The group is believed to consist of partners and children of Australian men who traveled to the Middle East to fight alongside ISIS before the caliphate was overthrown in 2019.
The government has repeatedly claimed that it did not provide any assistance to women and children beyond its legal obligation to provide them with travel documents.
Asked about the opposition’s request to refuse group passports, senior minister Mark Butler said the government was open to suggestions on how to deal with the situation but said the provision could only be used in certain circumstances.
He told Seven’s Sunrise programme: “The grounds are very specific and very stringent and are ultimately determined by our national security agencies.”
“I’m sure Angus Taylor knows that there are very strict constitutional limits on what any government, Labor or Liberal, can do in the area of citizenship and passports,” Mr Butler said.
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