Angus Taylor has launched a fierce critique of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, alleging deception regarding the government’s involvement in repatriating ISIS brides to Australia.
The Opposition Leader asserted that the Labor government had been preparing for the return of these women and children from Syria for ‘several years.’
“I’m calling nonsense on the Prime Minister,” Taylor stated in an interview with The Saturday Telegraph.
He went on to claim that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has been deeply involved in facilitating the repatriation process.
“We are committed to uncovering the truths that Australians deserve to know,” Taylor added.
Interestingly, Taylor’s use of the expression ‘calling nonsense’ mirrors a remark made by Prime Minister Albanese during a recent appearance on The Karl Stefanovic Show.
‘I call bulls***,’ Albanese said, responding to a suggestion that Burke had made a deal with refugee advocates to help repatriate the brides before last year’s election.
‘The fact is that that group that was spoken about, the non-government organisation, took the Australian government to court to demand the repatriation, and we won that case. We opposed it, and we won.’
Liberal leader Angus Taylor has launched an attack on Anthony Albanese over questions about whether Australian ISIS brides will be permitted to return from Syria
Anthony Albanese has said his government opposes the repatriation of ISIS brides
ISIS brides had travelled to Syria to marry members of the Islamic State terror group
Last week, Burke confirmed the 11 ISIS brides had been issued Australian passports, but maintained the government was not ‘conducting repatriation’ for them.
A government delegate was sent to the Al Roj camp in Syria’s northeast, where the families have lived for seven years, to perform DNA tests and issue their passports.
This week, Albanese doubled down on his government stance and repeated that it was not ‘providing repatriation’ to the women and their children.
‘We’ve said that we have compassion for the children involved, but that others who chose to travel to that area have made those decisions in life,’ he said.
The ISIS brides travelled to Syria between 2014 and 2019 to live with, support, or marry members of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
After the collapse of the caliphate, the women and their children were detained in Syrian refugee camps that have been described as ‘inhuman’.
Taylor has demanded tough new laws that would make it impossible for ISIS brides to return to Australia and proposed penalties for anyone who assists them.
Proposed legislation, introduced by the Liberal leader, would make it a criminal offence to assist Australians with links to IS in returning home.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has been accused of being ‘up to his eyeballs’ in assisting the repatriation of the women and children to Australia
Two ISIS brides who want to return have been labelled as ‘extremists’
Taylor said the bill was designed to ‘protect Australia’s way of life’.
‘We will take action and refuse to let people come here who abandoned Australia to support Islamic extremist terror overseas,’ he said.
‘We must shut the door to people who do not share our values – and these people rejected our values in favour of terror.’
Two women who reportedly married Australian ISIS fighters were declared ‘extremists’ by the head of a Syrian camp.
Camp director Hakamia Ibrahim has previously said the two women were being held separately from the group of 11 women and 23 children, who are pleading with the government to help them return to Australia.
‘In the camp, they [the Australians] did not cause problems – except for two people, of course,’ Ms Ibrahim told The Australian.
‘They are still among the extremists, from the extremist women.’
