Tony Burke silent on removal of note taker from secret ISIS bride meeting
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has failed to explain why he removed a note taker from a meeting with advocates for the return of ISIS brides to Australia.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has failed to answer questions as to why he removed a note taker from a meeting hosted with the charity advocating the return of so-called Isis brides and their children,
The federal government was accused on Thursday of misleading Australians over its dealings with aid agency Save the Children and its role in returning the wives and children of ISIS terrorists to Australia, with Sussan Ley alleging that “secret deals” may have been reached during the closed-door negotiations.
“Were secret deals being done between the minister and the third party in that meeting (with) no note taker from the department? These aren’t people returning from a holiday where they got lost overseas. This is a national security issue,” the Opposition Leader said.
“These are members of a death cult which had at its heart the destruction of the Australian way of life … Tony Burke needs to front up today and answer these questions.”
It comes after The Australian published documents revealing Mr Burke held secret talks with advocacy group Save the Children ahead of ISIS brides being repatriated to Australia, and asked a senior public servant to leave the meeting so he could have a “frank” conversation with three individuals advocating for their return.
On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles disputed the claims, saying he did “not accept the characterisation” that Mr Burke asked Home Affairs official Hasan Sowaid to leave the room, despite the clear notes from the department of the meeting with Save the Children.
“I wouldn’t accept that characterisation of what’s occurred here. But there are plenty of times where ministers will meet one-on-one with individuals, and that’s entirely appropriate,” he told Sky News.
Mr Marles went on to say it was “appropriate” for ministers to meet one-on-one with stakeholders and said the recent revelations backed in what Mr Burke and the Prime Minister had said about the ISIS brides.
“Look, in the work that we do, there are times where there are one-on-one meetings. There are times where there are meetings where you have public officials with you – and all of that is perfectly normal,” Mr Marles said.
“But come back to the fundamental point here: if you strip away all the noise, what’s absolutely clear from what has come out in Senate estimates is that what Tony Burke has been saying from the get-go – that there was no government repatriation – is confirmed by this information.”
Written questions were put to Mr Burke by The Australian on Thursday asking why he asked his staff to leave the room during the June 13 meeting with Mat Tinkler of Save the Children, campaigner Kamalle Dabboussy, the father of a previously returned ISIS bride, and Dr Jamal Rifi.
A Home Affairs department spokesperson responded by saying there “was no repatriation of these individuals” and they had not been provided any assistance beyond what was normally given to Australian citizens.
The government has staunchly stated it is required by law to issue the passports. But Mr Burke at the meeting, in front of the Home Affairs note taker, said the government was not considering providing assurances to the Kurds running the Syrian camps that it would issue passports to Australians attempting to flee.
On August 15, Mr Dabboussy and Mr Tinkler wrote a letter to Mr Burke asking for help in issuing passports to ISIS brides, as part of a US government offer to provide support within Syria for repatriations. Other released handwritten notes, from a prior meeting on October 9, penned by Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster, reported Mr Burke as making a “c’ment” to “find a way”.
A senior government source told The Australian on Wednesday there was no evidence this sentence suggested Mr Burke offered to provide assistance. The source also said there was no evidence the word “c’ment” was shorthand for commitment.
“We will not speculate on the meaning of notes from a meeting that was over 12 months ago,” a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said on Thursday.
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