Government pans Coalition’s response to ISIS brides

Accusations of playing politics with national security and “rank hypocrisy” are rife after ISIS brides were repatriated this week.

The federal government has accused the opposition of “rank hypocrisy” in their messaging about the repatriated ISIS brides and their children.

Four Australian women and their 13 children arrived in Sydney this week after being detained in Northern Syria for a number of years. They have been settled in western Sydney, with further repatriations planned – including to Victoria – over coming months.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who was at one time home affairs minister in the former government, has questioned the security advice and accused the government of playing politics.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said not only was her government acting on national security advice, but the opposition’s politicking was “disgraceful”.

Four Australian women who married ISIS members and their children were repatriated to Sydney this week from their detention camp in Northern Syria. Picture: Supplied

“It is rank hypocrisy because the Liberals did exactly the same thing in 2019 – repatriated a group of people from these camps,” she told ABC News.

“For some reason they are now saying this is not appropriate to do. People are sick of this kind of politics.

“National security matters are handled sensitively and delicately and calmly, and that is how we have conducted this exercise.”

Appearing in a panel on Channel 7, Education Minister Jason Clare put to Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley that her party’s position was hypocritical.

“I live in western Sydney, I want our community to be safe – I trust our police and our national security agencies,” Mr Clare said.

“This is not the first time that this has happened. The Morrison government did exactly the same thing three years ago … Guess who was home affairs minister then? Peter Dutton.

“For the Coalition to now say they are against that makes them hypocrites.”

Ms Ley said the circumstances were “completely different” and questioned why the government had not been transparent with the community about this.

“It is just not good enough,” she said.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has accused the opposition of ‘rank hypocrisy’ over their response. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Clare accused Ms Ley of misleading the Australian people, as she claimed the Morrison government’s move several years ago was a humanitarian cause.

In a media release issued after her appearance, a spokesperson for Ms Ley said the 2019 repatriation had been for eight orphans who at the time Scott Morrison said could “not be held responsible for the crimes of their parents”.

Ms Ley said the community was owed transparency.

“If Labor are seriously seeking to minimise the concerns of the multicultural communities of western Sydney, then their mishandling of this issue is worse than we thought,” the spokesperson said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the move to settle the women and children was ‘political’ and not in line with the advice he received when in government. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Over on the Nine Network, Mr Dutton questioned the national security advice, saying it had been markedly different from what he had received when he was the minister in charge.

He said the decision appeared to be political.

“The government never announced it before the election, they never told the Australian public they would be bringing these women back into Australia and the advice that I had at the time frankly was that some of the women were just as bad as some of the men who ended up being killed in the theatre of war over there,” he said.

“The job of the government is to make sure that Australians are safe and not introduce into the system an element of risk. They’ve done exactly that.

“There’s not been an ounce of consultation (with communities), which makes them angry.”

In response, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said his government was acting on advice that would keep Australians safe.

“All of those comments are dripping with politics and dripping with hypocrisy,” he said.