Two ministers have defended the Federal Government’s decision to bring four ISIS brides and their 13 children back to Australia, claiming that Peter Dutton has made the exact same decision before.
During an appearance on Channel Seven’s Sunrise on Friday, Education Minister Jason Clare insisted the government only brought families back on the advice of the country’s security services.
The government has been criticized by some commentators, including Peta Credlin of Sky News, for failing to come forward and explain publicly the decision to bring in the women and children from its Syrian refugee camp.
Labor has also accused of ‘playing politics’ with national security and making allegedly inadequate security arrangements for ex-wives of ISIS fighters.
Mr Clare told host Natalie Barr that he lived in Western Sydney and wants his community to be safe: “I’ll tell you what: I trust our police and I trust our national security agencies and we do this on their advice.” “.
Clare then claimed that the Morrison government did “the exact same thing three years ago.” They brought home families, women and children from the Middle East, three years ago.
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Education Minister Jason Clare (above, in focus) said the furor within liberal ranks over the repatriation of ISIS brides has been “hypocritical.”
Deputy Liberal Party Leader Sussan Ley (above) says the Albanian government failed to consult with the community before repatriating 13 ISIS brides and children from their refugee camps in the Middle East.
‘Guess who was the Home Secretary who brought those women and children home? Peter Duton.
“So for the Coalition to now say they’re against it, that makes them hypocrites because they did the exact same thing.”
The Morrison government repatriated the six orphaned children and grandchildren of a notorious extremist to live with their grandmother and great-grandmother in 2019. The identities of those children cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Deputy Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley, who joined from Dubai, said she was “really worried” about the return of Islamic State brides.
“People have come out of Australia to join these groups and engage in activities that are too horrible to talk about on their show,” he said.
‘This job, Jason, is bigger than the police force for God’s sake. This is to reassure the communities in Western Sydney who are truly concerned. Where is the transparency?
Mr. Clare called her argument “garbage” and said that she and Mr. Dutton did the exact same thing three years ago.
‘Those women or children were returned to my community, to my constituency, and no one consulted me. Peter Dutton didn’t call me to tell me they were moving into my constituency.
“So this makes everything that Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley are saying now hypocritical, because they did the exact same thing.
Now they are taking exactly the opposite approach.
Ms. Ley argued that the repatriations fell under different circumstances, alleging that the Morrison government had guarantees from its agencies three years ago.
Barr reminded him that the government supposedly has those same guarantees now.
The Morrison government repatriated the six orphaned children and grandchildren of notorious extremist Khaled Sharrouf three years ago (above, ISIS)
It is not clear how many of the women were forced to go to Syria by their husbands or if they went voluntarily.
The Labor government has been silent on how much it cost Australian taxpayers to repatriate ISIS brides.
In a separate interview, Home Secretary Clare O’Neill told ABC on Friday that she was disappointed in the opposition’s handling of the issue.
“I think the opposition leader’s politicking is disgraceful,” said Ms O’Neil.
‘It’s pure hypocrisy because the Liberals did the exact same thing in 2019, they repatriated a bunch of people from these camps.
Clare O’Neil (above) called the “politicking” of Peter Dutton and his party “disgraceful”, speaking on Friday morning.
‘For some reason now they say this is not appropriate. People are fed up with this kind of politics.
Mr Dutton was in western Sydney this week, where he said community leaders had approached him and raised their concerns.
“The government’s job is to make sure Australians are safe and not introduce an element of risk into the system. They’ve done exactly that,’ he told Channel Nine.
“I was in West Sydney in Fairfield yesterday and I can tell you that the communities that have lost loved ones to ISIS fighters in the Middle East are beside themselves with worry about what will happen to their local community, local schools , when you bring this ideology back to the local community.’
