Govt blasts stance

BRIDES ‘HYPOCRISY’

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 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”.

“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.

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

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”.

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 job of the government is to make sure that Australians are safe and not introduce into the system an element of risk,” Mr Dutton said.

“They’ve done exactly that.”