Repatriated IS brides, children to return to suburbs where their families live

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil confirms future cohorts of Australians connected to Islamic State will resettle in the suburbs where their families are located.

‘One of the things that need to be understood here is these are Australian citizens’, said Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil. Picture John Grainger

Future cohorts of Australians connected to the Islamic State will be returned, but will return to the suburbs in which their families live, government officials have confirmed.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil met with Western Sydney mayors on Friday, alongside security officials and Member for McMahon Chris Bowen, in an attempt to allay concerns over the repatriation of the wives and children of former IS fighters from Syria last month.

Ms O’Neil and Ms Bowen assured the mayors the repatriates would not be settled in Fairfield.

“The assumption that people are being settled in a particular place like Fairfield is not necessarily correct,” Mr Bowen said. “It is not correct.”

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone was notably subdued upon learning the repatriates had not been settled in his community, having in recent days expressed concern over the safety of community members who had fled the IS regime.

“I am very comfortable from our discussions that we have not had any resettled in Fairfield and happy to say that,” Mr Carbone said.

“It has been made very clear to me that they will go where their families are, and it has been really clear to me that after this discussion that Western Sydney will not be used as a dumping ground.

“That means that if families are in Melbourne, they will be repatriated to Melbourne. They will be repatriated to Perth, Queensland, wherever those families may be.”

The government’s hands were tied by its obligation to return Australian citizens, the ministers explained.

“One of the things that need to be understood here is these are Australian citizens,” Ms O’Neil said.

“The Australian government has a choice. We can bring these people back to Australia to be managed in a way where we can make sure the community is kept safe, or we can see these people return after a bunch of Australian children have grown up in a camp where they are subjected every day to radical ideology set to make them hate their country.”

Ms O’Neil defended her lack of contact with the concerned mayors in the almost four weeks since the repatriates boarded transport to Australia. She did not comment on the cost of the repatriation, which she said fell within AFP budgets, and declined to detail monitoring protocols due to security concerns.

Clare O Neil holds a press conference at the Fairfield council chambers with local federal member Chris Bowen and local Mayors. Picture: John Grainger

“We have made a decision on national security grounds,” Ms O’Neil said. “I think it should be fairly obvious why we are not able to talk about that publicly before the decision was made. The important thing today was that we have met and are talking with the community.”

Mr Bowen accused the Opposition of hypocrisy, saying he was kept “utterly in the dark” over a repatriation in 2019.

“As local member, I have no idea what happened in 2019,” Mr Bowen said.

“I wasn’t given the courtesy of a phone call by the then-minister. I wasn’t given the courtesy of a briefing. I did not know how many people were settled in our community. I do not know who they were, what protections were put in place.”

Mr Bowen insinuated adults had been returned in that mission -- a claim Opposition Leader Peter Dutton later denied.

Mr Carbone called for a review to allow the government to revoke the citizenship of the remaining Australians in the Syrian camps.

“The government is saying it’s low risk... but that doesn’t mean you feel safe,” he said.

“Sometimes we should not support those who turn their backs against us... That’s just my view and I think that the government demonstrated that they probably don’t have the mechanisms to stop that. I think that should be reviewed and changed. The government should always put the interests of Australians first.”