‘IS fighter’s kids denied help’

Australian politics infiltrated by Italian mafia

SYDNEY, June 29, (Agencies): The Australian mother-in-law of a notorious Islamic State group fighter said Monday she was “devastated” that police had refused to help bring her five grandchildren home from Syria.

Karen Nettleton’s daughter Tara is married to Khaled Sharrouf, who gained global infamy last year when he posted pictures of himself and his seven-year-old son on Twitter holding up the severed heads of soldiers.

News emerged last week that Sharrouf may have died in the same drone attack believed to have killed fellow Australian jihadist Mohamed Elomar, raising concerns about what would happen to his children who were taken to Syria last year.

“My advice to the family is to engage with the proper legal authorities and not to conduct this discussion through the media,” Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said on Wednesday.

“I think that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the natural touch point for the family. I think they need to engage with the AFP and talk about what options there might be.”

But Sydney grandmother Karen Nettleton said she had been in contact with the police over a period of months beginning last year about bringing home the children, now aged between four and 14.

“They were saying they would look into helping us get Tara and the children out of Syria,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

But she added that they suddenly changed their attitude, and concluded they were unable to help her.

“I was talking to one of the agencies and I was told that they wouldn’t be able to help us,” Nettleton said.

“I was devastated, because, who else do you go to get help to get your children out of a place like that? I certainly can’t go there and get them.”

The Australian Federal Police said they could not comment on individual cases, but noted that Canberra did not have a consular presence in Syria.

“As such, the AFP is not in a position to provide assistance to Australians who choose to enter this area and seek assistance with their travel from Syria to a safer location,” a police spokeswoman said.

Two Australian media organisations reported on Monday that Australian politics has been infiltrated at high levels by the Italian mafia, although there was no suggestion of direct links between lawmakers and the criminal syndicate.

A year-long investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Fairfax media found one element of the Calabrian mafia, known as ‘Ndrangheta, had used a number of well-known donors to parties on both sides of the Australian political divide to legitimise its activities.

The report said a man with “deep mafia associations” met then-prime minister John Howard and other top party officials at a fundraising event for the conservative Liberal Party in the early 2000s.

There was no suggestion that Howard knew of the man’s alleged criminal links.

In another incident, the son of an alleged mafia boss did work experience at the Australian embassy in Rome while former Liberal minister Amanda Vanstone was ambassador, it said.

Again, there was no suggestion Vanstone knew of the link.

Former British migrants who were physically and sexually assaulted at a notorious school in Australia on Monday won the largest compensation payment for survivors of mass child abuse in the country’s legal history.

A class action lawsuit was brought by almost 150 former residents of Fairbridge Farm School, which housed British child migrants, against the Australian and New South Wales state governments after they were abused between 1938 and 1974.

Slater and Gordon lawyer Roop Sandhu said the A$24 million ($18.3 million) payout marked a major milestone in the acknowledgement of institutional child abuse.