Barnaby Joyce slams decision to repatriate children born under ISIS rule

Barnaby Joyce has made stunning claims about children born under ISIS rule, saying they should be left overseas regardless of claims to Australian citizenship.

Barnaby Joyce has warned children born under ISIS rule pose “a real risk” to Australia and should be left where they were born overseas regardless of any claim to citizenship.

Australia announced over the weekend that it had repatriated four Australian women and their 13 children after the families touched down in New South Wales.

The women and their children had been held in the al-Hol and al-Roj camps in the north eastern Syria region known as Rojava since March 2019.

Some had travelled with husbands who became ISIS fighters while others were taken to the war-torn region as teenagers and children by their parents before marrying local men.

Women and a child queue to receive humanitarian aid packages at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Picture: Delil Souleiman/AFP

The former Nationals leader has slammed the decision to repatriate the children, suggesting their parents had made a choice.

“They chose to go and be part of a terrorist organisation that was murdering people, raping people, destroying the cultural heritage of countries, and the children that were born overseas are citizens of wherever they were born,’’ Mr Joyce told Sunrise.

The women have disputed those claims, with some insisting they were ‘tricked’ or coerced into entering Syria.

Mr Joyce also warned that the cost of repatriating and asking security agencies to monitor the families could run into the millions of dollars.

“As a former deputy chair of the National Security Committee, this will cost millions and millions of dollars to monitor them,’’ he said.

“We have one problem for one person who does not relinquish the vile views they have and meet up with other people and start to espouse their views at some stage of the future.

“That is a massive risk to us and a massive problem. Because people chose to go there, it is totally different and I have real concerns about this, serious concerns about this, serious concerns about what happens.”

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has slammed the government’s decision to repatriate the women and children.

Foreign women, living in al-Hol camp, walk under the supervision of a fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Picture: Delil Souleiman/AFP

Women walk among shelters at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp. Picture: Delil Souleiman/AFP

However, Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said we should not visit the sins of the parents on the children.

“(ISIS) were a disgusting organisation that did disgusting things, but ...a number of these women were taken as children to Syria,’’ she said.

“They were children themselves when they were children themselves when they were taken and they have children now who are Australian citizens growing up in some of the most dangerous places on earth.

“I understand why people are concerned and it is absolutely vital that we continue to take the advice of our security agencies that these women stay in touch with people who are prepared to supervise them and in many cases, they will be for a long time, but we need to get these kids home safely and get the kids into normal schools, surrounded by family that love them, integrating into the Australian way of life.

“That’s how we keep ourselves safe and that’s how we keep them safe.”

Tanya Plibersek pointed out a number of the women were taken to Syria as children. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Ms Plibersek also backed an expanded humanitarian intake from the region.

“I think we should have a stronger humanitarian program than the previous government had,’’ she said.

“We could have done better in the humanitarian space over the last few years but that doesn’t mean that these women, in many cases, who were taken as children themselves, or tricked into going, don’t deserve to be allowed to come back to Australia.

“If they are prepared to abide by Australian laws, and they said they will, then we need to get those kids that were bought over there and women who were tricked or taken as children, back to Australia. I don’t have any sympathy for ISIS.

“Nut if you are a kid who was taken over there by your parents, you are a victim of child abuse yourself.”

Families welcome return of lost daughters

Australian Mariam Dabboussy and her three children were among the families repatriated over the weekend.

Kamalle Dabboussy, the womans’ father, said it was a “joyous day” to see his daughter and grandchildren.

Kamalle Dabboussy with his daughter Mariam Dabboussy (right) and her daughters Aisha (left) and Fatema Picture: Supplied

AFP uniformed officers at Sydney Airport where ISIS brides back into Australia on a flight from Dubai. Picture: Julian Andrews

“Today I want to take the opportunity to just enjoy the return of my daughter and grandchildren. It’s been an overwhelming day,” he said.

“I’ve just come from seeing my daughter and grandchildren. They have had a long extensive journey getting home, they are tired, they are well. The kids are opening presents and toys are the ones that are awake anyway.”

Mr Dabboussy said the authorities would advise how much monitoring and checks the families would be subject to over time.

“We’ll wait and see what that looks like, so I don’t know,” he said.

“But we know that they could contain things from ankle bracelets to curfews to monitoring, but at the moment none of that information is clear.”

“These women aren’t to my knowledge a concern of threat to Australia at all,” he said.

“Clearly in Mariam’s journey, and I’ve been very public about this, she was coerced into Syria. That was the position the government had told me, that’s been on the public record.

“Everything she has done has been for the safety of her children and herself. If she needs to explain that she will and that is the situation that she is in.

“I‘m not overly concerned with her story, we’ll see if there’s anything that’s unknown that comes out.”