Reverse this ‘utter madness’: Veterans Minister slams plan to bring ISIS brides to Sydney

State and federal politicians have slammed a plan to resettle ISIS brides in Sydney as “utter madness” and a drain on taxpayer dollars.

Veterans Minister David Elliott is appealing to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to reverse the “utter madness” of a plan to bring the wives and children of ISIS fighters to Sydney.

The former Police Minister who has served seven years in justice portfolios said he is concerned about the impact of resettling the families of terrorists on veteran mental health.

“I am certainly worried about the way this decision will affect the mental wellbeing of contemporary veterans,” he said.

“I think it’s utter madness … I can’t think for the life of me what would possess the Commonwealth given how the world has had to manage returning fighters over the course of the past 20 years. I would appeal to the Commonwealth to reverse their decision.”

The returning families would require significant government support particularly for the children – many of whom were born under the Islamic State’s crude ‘caliphate’ or in the detention camps.

Veterans Minister David Elliott has called on the Albanese government to reverse its decision on bringing back ISIS brides. Picture: Richard Dobson

“Am I sympathetic to their plight? Absolutely, particularly the children … (but) this will be costly in every sense of the word,” Mr Elliott said.

“It was hard enough managing terrorists in jails for goodness sakes. These kids have been brainwashed.

“Having said that — the NSW police force are in my mind world’s best practice when it comes to monitoring and managing those with extremist ideas.”

He backed Premier Dominic Perrottet who said the state government’s priority was the safety and wellbeing of the community.

Mr Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns both stopped short of offering full support to the federal government plan to return ISIS families to Sydney.

Both party leaders signalled they wanted more information from the Albanese government on the plan, with Mr Perrottet revealing the return of more than 50 detainees to Australia from Syria has been discussed between NSW and federal government intelligence agencies.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the NSW and federal government’s intelligence agencies would discuss the return of ISIS family members. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

“Now, while this is a predominantly a matter for the federal government when these situations occur, the NSW state agencies work very closely with the Commonwealth Government in working through those matters, but I’ll make it very clear that my number one priority is the safety and security of every single person across our state,” he said.

“Our agencies have been in discussions.”

News Corp revealed that federal government intelligence agency ASIO cleared the rescue mission after visiting al-Roj detention camp, in Syria’s northeast, in late August and early September, carrying out final risk assessments on the group and on their extended families in Australia.

Australian women and children at the Al-Hawl camp in northeast Syria in 2019. Picture: Supplied

Labor leader Chris Minns said he also wanted to see more detailed plans for the potential repatriation of families from the Commonwealth Government.

“I‘d like to see some more information as to what the implications are for Sydney when the security checks have been done, what the suggested processes from the federal government will be before resettling takes place in Sydney,” he said.

Federal Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes said it was likely family members would be charged upon re-entering Australia – raising the question of what would happen to children in their care.

Senator Hollie Hughes raised concerns about the charges returning ISIS brides would face. Picture: Gary Ramage

“This is a risk for all Australians – one of the mothers who went over went knowing full well they were going to support ISIS and ISIS fighters and many of them are going to face charges when they return because they went into areas Australians weren’t allowed to go into.”

Veteran and Human Rights lawyer Paul James said the veteran community would have “reservations” about the plan.

“At a higher level, human rights were a major concern for all veterans and that’s one of the reasons why we deploy however in this situation a lot of veterans who have served in that theatre would have reservations in relation to who these people are,” he said.

“We need to ensure that whoever is coming back here will not have the potential to harm.”

Originally published as Reverse this ‘utter madness’: Veterans Minister slams plan to bring ISIS brides to Sydney