IN BRIEF
- The Opposition's plan comes as a group of 34 woman and children seek to return to Australia from Syria.
- The federal government has raised questions over the constitutionality of the proposal.
The Coalition has suggested a ban on helping individuals with alleged links to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group from returning to Australia, despite potential constitutional limitations.
The plan is in response to the fate of 34 women and children who have unsuccessfully tried to return to Australia from the al-Roj camp in northern Syria.
The group had been living in the camp in squalid conditions since 2019, when the IS group collapsed. They have been seeking to return home, but the government insisted it would not help repatriate them.
Under the the Opposition's proposal, it would become a criminal offence to facilitate the re-entry of individuals linked to terrorist hot spots, a terrorist organisation or who have committed terror-related offences.
Draft legislation has not yet been presented but the Opposition says it will be introduced during the next parliamentary sitting fortnight — beginning 2 March.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Ted O'Brien argues the government should pull every lever to stop the return of people affiliated with terror groups, particularly when third-party assistance is involved.
"This proposed law closes that loophole, brings back responsibility to lie with government, and doesn't allow the government to effectively outsource the repatriation of terrorist sympathisers back to Australia," he told ABC's RN.
It would see people that assist these individuals face ten years imprisonment.
Facing repeated questions about the children in the cohort, O'Brien said "there's not an automatic exemption", arguing security agencies would determine whether they pose a security risk.
"This should apply across the board. The key here is that we ensure that the government steps up," he said.
It is unclear who this would target and whether it would affect NGOs, advocacy groups or family members who have travelled to Syria to assist the families' return to Australia.
Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume clarified there would be carve-outs for people facilitating humanitarian aid, but revealed organisations assisting could fall under the proposed rules, depending on the nature of their involvement.
"If Save the Children are returning, are assisting or facilitating the return of those who would pose a threat to Australia, who meet those conditions of having been in a declared area, committed a terrorist act, or been associated with a terrorist organization, well, then they would be caught up in this," she told Sky News.
Shortly after the remarks, Save the Children CEO Matt Tinkler clarified that the group is not assisting repatriation efforts.
"Save the Children has already made it clear that we are not facilitating the re-entry of Australian citizens from northeastern Syria. We have not, and will not, conduct extraction or repatriation operations," Tinkler said in a statement.
"In the case of innocent children stranded in camps in northeastern Syria our role has been twofold: providing them with lifesaving humanitarian relief and advocating for national governments to repatriate their citizens."
Save the Children launched a 2023 Federal Court challenge to compel the group's repatriation, but the case failed after the court ruled Australia has no legal obligation to intervene in a camp outside its physical control.
PM rejects proposal as 'not serious'
The Coalition does not have the numbers to pass the legislation in the lower house where the federal government has a majority and appears unlikely to support it.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described it as "not serious", and said the government had received advice on the constitutional limits of barring the return of passport-carrying Australians.
"They pretend that the Constitution doesn't exist. They know that there are some limits on what can be done, but I repeat, our position is we are not repatriating people and we're not providing assistance," he told reporters on Monday morning.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the government has been monitoring the cohort for years and has "confidence in our intelligence and security agencies".
"We obviously would need to take advice on whether this would be legally valid. We would also need to ensure that any such laws are consistent with our obligations," she told Channel Seven's Sunrise program.
These obligations include granting Australian citizens a passport.
"In the event that it is put forward that they have committed crimes, they will be subjected to the full force of the law on their arrival."
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