- Coalition calls for tougher laws to stop group from having passports
- Albanese government faces growing criticism over saga
The Opposition has demanded tough new laws that would make it impossible for ISIS brides to return to Australia and proposed punishing anyone who helps them.
The legislation, introduced by Liberal leader Angus Taylor, would make it a criminal offence to assist Australians with links to Islamic State to return home.
Under the proposal, individuals and organisations involved in facilitating the return of those connected to terrorist groups could face prosecution.
If passed, humanitarian or security-based repatriations would only be allowed with the express approval of either the foreign affairs or home affairs minister.
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.’
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam called out the Albanese government’s approach.
The Opposition has proposed tough new laws that would stop ISIS brides from ever returning to Australia
‘The Albanese government’s reckless approach of issuing passports and allowing so-called ‘self-managed returns’ is not border protection – it’s an abdication of its responsibility to keep Australians safe,’ he said.
The government is facing growing criticism over its claim it has not supported the return of 34 Islamic State-linked women and children to Australia.
Last week, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the group had been issued Australian passports, but maintained the government was not ‘conducting repatriation’ for them.
However, it was revealed that a government delegate was sent to the Al Roj camp in Syria’s north-east, where the families have lived for seven years, to conduct DNA tests and issue their passports.
The Sunday Telegraph reported confidential talks between the Albanese government and state agencies in NSW and Victoria have been taking place since late 2025 regarding their return.
Mr Duniam said the Albanese government was playing around with ‘semantics’.
‘Just because they’re not the ones driving them from the camp to the airport and escorting them through customs back to Australia does not mean that they are not assisting,’ he said.
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has also called on Premier Chris Minns to ‘demand transparency’ from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese around whether any of the families will reside in NSW.
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The legislation, put forward by Liberal leader Angus Taylor, would make it a criminal offence to assist Australians with links to Islamic State to return home
While appearing on ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning, Burke refused to confirm what intelligence agencies had found on the ISIS brides after being asked multiple times whether they posed a security threat.
‘The cohort is not consistent; there are very different people with different histories and different states of mind, if I put it in those terms,’ he said.
‘Our agencies have been following them for a long time – the fact that one person has been pulled out for a temporary exclusion order is because, quite specifically, of what we know of that individual.
‘I can give the complete confidence to the Australian community [that] we know the different individuals, we know the state of mind and the effective ideology of different individuals.’
