The Albanese Government must urgently answer serious questions surrounding the return of a cohort of ISIS brides to Australia and the ongoing cost and security implications for Australians.
- One – if there was sufficient evidence to arrest three ISIS brides on serious charges yesterday, why were Temporary Exclusion Orders not imposed before they travelled to Australia?
- Two – given sufficient evidence existed for charges to be laid, how was the threshold under section 14 of the Australian Passports Act not met to deny passports to these terrorist sympathisers on the grounds of potential harm to Australia?
- Three – how much taxpayer money has already been spent investigating and establishing charges against these ISIS brides?
- Four – how much will it cost taxpayers to monitor, manage and support these ISIS brides now they are in Australia?
- Five – will any of these ISIS brides or their families receive Australian welfare or social security payments and, if so, what payments they will be able to access?
- Six – are any of the 13 individuals dual nationals?
- Seven – are deradicalisation programs for the children mandatory or optional?
- Eight – will the ISIS brides will be prevented from accessing Australian legal aid for any part of their defence?
- Nine – Does the Albanese Government have a plan for the cohort still in the Middle East?
- Ten – Will this cohort be treated the same way as the cohort at Melbourne Airport last night?
Australians deserve transparency from a Government that has chosen to allow individuals that have allegedly committed some of the worst crimes imaginable – charges so serious some of them have never been used before – back into the country.
And Australians deserve a right to know what risks are being imposed on communities, what safeguards are in place, the cost they will have to bear, and whether the same chaotic scenes seen at Melbourne Airport will be replicated should the Albanese Government fail to stop other ISIS brides and children returning.
The Albanese Government cannot continue to hide behind secrecy on matters of national security.