00:01Well, the opposition are calling on the government to take a harder stance against these women
00:06and children returning back to Australia from Syria.
00:10The government, as Matt Doran just mentioned, insists that it doesn't play a role in helping
00:15to repatriate these women and say they have no plans to in the future, but they have of
00:21course played somewhat of a role in providing Australian passports to these women and children
00:27as required as they are Australian citizens.
00:31This has been an ongoing issue that has impacted both sides of government in their respective
00:37terms.
00:38These women and children in these camps in Syria are Australian citizens and therefore are
00:43entitled to come home to Australia and are entitled to Australian passports.
00:49But of course there are concerns about security and of course the beliefs and values that these
00:55women may have picked up during their time with ISIS members or in the vicinity of ISIS.
01:02Now several cohorts of women and children have made their own way back to Australia in recent
01:07years without the help of the government, according to the government, but they were administered
01:12those passports.
01:13Here's what Anthony Albanese had to say on the matter earlier today.
01:18We have no sympathy, frankly, for people who travelled overseas in order to participate
01:25in what was an attempt to establish a caliphate to undermine and destroy our way of life.
01:33And so as my mother would say, you make your bed, you lie in it.
01:40It's unfortunate that children are impacted by this as well, but we are not providing any support.
01:48And if anyone does manage to find their way back to Australia, then they will face the
01:56full force of the law if any laws have been broken.
02:01The Coalition, however, say this doesn't go far enough.
02:05Just saying that they won't play a role in helping age these women home isn't enough.
02:10They want to see the government take a more active stance against preventing these women
02:14from returning to Australia.
02:16Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson suggested that the women shouldn't be allowed to return because
02:21of the views they may hold and said that there are measures the government can take to prevent
02:27them from returning.
02:28Here's what she had to say.
02:30The most important task of any government is to keep Australians safe.
02:35And if these are people who subscribed to ISIS ideology, who subscribe to this extremist ideology,
02:44then they should not be returning to Australia.
02:47The government has a number of options before it.
02:49They can make security assessments.
02:51They can impose temporary exclusion orders.
02:54There are a range of options.
02:55The bottom line is, and what we are concerned about, we need to ensure that these adults
03:01do not pose a threat to Australia.
03:04The Libs have also been discussing a leaked liberal immigration policy this morning.
03:09It proposes a ban on people from terror hotspots.
03:13Does that form part of this conversation?
03:16Well, it comes into the conversation, but there are differences, of course, with the immigration
03:21policy.
03:22We're looking at non-citizens, whereas with these women wanting to return home, they are
03:27Australian citizens.
03:28So there is that difference.
03:30But it's a bit of a coincidence this conversation is happening at the same time.
03:34There has been this leaked liberal immigration policy that has been circulating in the media
03:40this morning.
03:40It proposes that people coming from 13 different hotspot regions, terrorism hotspots, including
03:48Gaza, Somalia and the Philippines, be banned from entering Australia.
03:53It's believed to have formed part of Susan Lee's immigration policy before she was ousted,
03:59but it has been leaked to the media.
04:01And today, many liberal members have been coming out saying that they had never seen the policy
04:05and that it doesn't align with what they understand the immigration policy, which we expect to
04:11be released any day now, will be.
04:14So several leaders, including the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, denied knowledge of the
04:20policy and says he doesn't know where the document came from.
04:23Liberal Senator Dave Sharma also said that he hadn't seen the document, but that it's his
04:30understanding it's not a reflection of what the Liberals' policy will be.
04:34He says that it's not about where people come from, but about the values they hold.
04:39But overall, it forms part of this discussion that the Liberal Party are taking a harder
04:44line approach to immigration, wanting to really crack down and make sure that people share these
04:50so-called Australian values when they want to come to Australia, Gemma.
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