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Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Shadow Home Affairs minister Michaelia Cash said in a statement: “This is a highly dangerous cohort of individuals who associated themselves with the barbaric Islamic State Regime.
“The government must come clean: either they knew about this cohort returning and hid it from the Australian public, or worse, family members of Islamic State terrorists returned to Australia without the government’s knowledge.
“This is nothing short of a dereliction of duty by the Albanese Labor government. These are people who willingly travelled to a war zone and aligned themselves with one of the most barbaric terrorist organisations in history.”
In 2019, at a time when the then Coalition federal government was arguing it was too dangerous to head into Syria to repatriate Australians in the IDP camps, this masthead’s Michael Bachelard and Kate Geraghty walked into al-Hawl camp and spoke with Australians there.
The group of skinny, scared women from Sydney and Melbourne told the reporter and photographer that there were too few guards, that food was scarce, and that shootouts had occurred within the camp.
In September, the government denied reports that more than a dozen women, children and young men were set to be evacuated from Al Roj camp in Syria and brought to NSW and Victoria before Christmas in a secret operation.
Save the Children Australia CEO Mat Tinkler said his organisation had long advocated for the government to safely repatriate the Australians still stuck in Syria.
“Every child deserves a life free of violence and fear. As conditions in the camps worsen and the region grows more unstable, we hold serious concerns for the wellbeing of the innocent children who remain there,” Tinkler said.
“We call on Australian authorities to provide all returnees with comprehensive support for reintegration, something Australia has proven it can do safely and successfully, as with the two previous repatriations in 2019 and 2022.”
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The civil war which began in Syria in 2011 degenerated into a messy multifaceted conflict.
Syria’s long-term president Bashar Al-Assad was ousted by rebel troops in December 2024, with the country set to hold an indirect vote on Sunday to establish its first parliament since Assad.
“Our travel advice continues to advise Australians do not travel to Syria due to the dangerous security situation and threat of armed conflict, airstrikes, terrorism, arbitrary detention and kidnapping – as it has been since these Australians travelled there,” the federal government said on Friday.
