MATTERS OF URGENCY
Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (16:27): I move: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The need to put the safety of all Australians ahead of the rights of people who chose to join or support terrorist organisations Australia is now hosting people who left our shores to fight for ISIS or other Islamic terrorist organisations against Australia and against our allies in Syria.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was overthrown in that war. Syria fell into the hands of Islamic group HTS, which recently reformed into a more moderate government. Guess what?
They don't want these women. Syrian authorities are treating them as foreign nationals awaiting deportation. In early 2026, when a group of Australian ISIS combatants tried to leave the al-Roj refugee camp, Syrian officials briefly turned them back because they wanted explicit confirmation that Australia would accept them upon arrival.
The new Syrian government is clearly smarter than this Albanese Labor government. What offences did these women commit in travelling to an area designated as a zone of terrorist activity? Firstly, under section 119.2 of the Criminal Code, it's an offence for an Australian citizen to intentionally enter or remain in an area, specifically the al-Raqqa province in Syria.
Simply being physically present within these ISIS controlled borders without an approved excuse is a crime carrying a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. Secondly, under section 102.3 of the Criminal Code, it's a criminal offence to intentionally join a listed terrorist organisation. The definition of membership extends beyond combatants to include individuals who swear allegiance, provide support or willingly integrate into the group's societal structure.
The penalty is up to 10 years imprisonment. Thirdly, enslavement offences under section 268.10 of the Criminal Code include the reduction of a person to a status of slavery, including purchasing, owning, using or trading human beings. The Australian Federal Police allege that some of these women were complicit in the purchase and domestic enslavement of captured Yazidi women.
The penalty is up to 25 years imprisonment per charge, amongst the harshest penalties in Australian law, and rightly so. While charges have been laid against two, One Nation is asking, 'Why not the others?' Home affairs minister Tony Burke and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have consistently claimed the government provided 'absolutely zero assistance' to bring these women back to Australia.
This is not accurate. The evidence indicating that Minister Burke's office and federal departments helped or cleared paths for the women includes handwritten notes of Department of Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster revealing that Minister Burke held undisclosed meetings with the Save the Children fund, who were responsible for bringing these women back to Australia.
During these discussions, Minister Burke reportedly thanked the advocacy group for keeping their repatriation plans quiet and out of the media. The minister explicitly noted that the government 'doesn't want to be perceived to have been paying to have them smuggled out'. Paying?
The minister is referring to the $100 million that Save the Children has received in federal government funding in the last three years. Minister Burke coordinated with Dr Jamal Rifi, a prominent Western Sydney Islamic community leader, who served as the key facilitator managing the ground logistics for their return to Australia. The federal government actively processed the legal paperwork required for international travel, which the UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism described as being 'utterly disingenuous' to deny as being of assistance.
Minister Burke conceded that the Department of Home Affairs assisted with passports, identity verification, DNA testing and citizenship documentation for the children born overseas. When the women applied for travel documents, the government chose not to implement long-term temporary exclusion orders, even though their circumstances perfectly met the criteria for that order.
The return of foreign Islamic fighters is not over. There are 13 men in captivity in Iraq who could be returned with the same assistance Minister Burke gave these women. Not on One Nation's watch.
Australia needs protection from Islamic terrorism, and we need protection from politicians facilitating Islamic terrorists' return to Australia. This is why One Nation will tomorrow move to introduce the Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill 2026, a bill the Greens call unconstitutional. What absolute rubbish!
Constitutional law expert Professor Anne Twomey has said One Nation's bill is structured to navigate constitutional hurdles, because our bill was carefully written to comply with High Court rulings on this topic, and we believe it is constitutional. Our bill strengthens Australia's ability to prevent the return to Australia of persons who have served with, participated in the activities of or materially supported terrorist organisations, to protect our Australian community.
I ask the Senate to take this sensible measure to protect Australians from people who have actively fought in foreign lands against Australia and against our allies, to fulfil government's and parliament's primary role, to keep Australians safe. (Time expired)