A state Labor MP has confirmed at least two of the ISIS-linked Australians travelling home will end up in the country’s most populous state.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has confirmed two of the 13 Australians with links to ISIS are due to land in NSW after travelling home from Syria.

“One woman and one minor are scheduled to arrive in NSW,” Ms Catley told parliament.
“This is an operational matter for the NSW Police, but I can assure this House the NSW police and the Australian Federal Police are working closely together.”

Earlier, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the cohort of four women and nine children had made plans to return home.

“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” he said in a statement.

“As we have said many times: any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law.”

Acts of terrorism and crimes against humanity, including engaging in slave trading, are among the potential charges faced by some in the cohort wishing to return home, Australian Federal Commissioner Krissy Barrett said at a press conference.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke described the women’s choice to travel to Syria as “disgraceful”. Picture: Gaye Gerard/ NewsWire
Mr Burke, speaking alongside Ms Barrett, told reporters there were limitations on the government’s ability to block the group’s return to Australia.

“There are very serious limits on what can be done with respect to preventing a citizen of a country returning to their country,” he said.

Ms Barrett said operational planning between ASIO, the AFP, and state and territory law enforcement had started in 2015 as part of Operation Kurrajong to prepare for the return of those that travelled to Syria during the reign of the so-called ISIS caliphate.

“So for more than a decade, investigators, when possible, have been collecting evidence and information in Syria at a time when Syria was a war zone with no functioning government,” she said.

“That evidence and information was to determine whether Australians who travelled to Syria may have committed Commonwealth offences, including terrorism offences such as entering, or remaining in, declared areas, and crimes against humanity offences, such as engaging in slave trading.

“I will not flag how many individuals will be arrested, or when they will be arrested, to protect a number of investigations.”

But she did confirm some Australians, should they return home, would be arrested upon arrival.

“Some individuals will be arrested and charged. Some will face continued investigations when they arrive in Australia,” she said.
“And children who return in the cohort will be asked to undergo community integration programs, therapeutic support and countering violent extremism programs.”

Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler said he welcomed news of the groups return, and that steps taken by the government during previous repatriations, including integration for the children, “can happen, they should happen, and they will happen for this cohort”.

Mr Tinkler told the ABC “we need to move beyond this debate which is if this cohort can come back.”

“We need to dial the temperature down,” he said.

“We need to focus on what is going to happen to these women when they arrive, and we’ve heard from the AFP Commissioner today about that, and we also need to focus on giving these children the space to recover, to survive, to thrive.

Several Australians who travelled to Syria during the ISIS Caliphate have claimed they were coerced. Picture: ABC Four Corners
“There’s been a lot of focus on the women and the choices they may have made but we need to focus on these children and give them a chance of resuming a normal life in Australia.”

Mr Tinkler said many of the children had teeth which were falling out, were dealing with untreated shrapnel wounds, and had never been to school.

Appearing later on the same program, Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly was grilled over whether she believed the children could be deradicalised.

“I’m a big believer that the circumstances of your birth should not determine the trajectory of your life,” she said.

“Having worked in countering violent extremism, having worked with young people who were heading down a path, a trajectory of violence, and seeing how their lives can be turned around, I would have to say yes.

“I’m a believer in those programs, I’m a believer in the ability of people to have a different trajectory in life.”

However, the Coalition has insisted the group’s ability to return poses a risk to Australia.

“While I have faith in the men and women that work in our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, they only can go so far,” Senator Duniam said.
“It is over to the government to make decisions in our national interest, to protect us from harm, to prevent risk from coming to our shores.

“Well, sadly, they’ve let us down, and they’ve failed on that count, they are not doing their job of protecting us.”

Nine Newspapers reported last week the cohort, who were previously trapped in Al-Roj camp in northeast Syria, were due to depart Damascus after securing plane tickets home.

They left the detention camp in co-ordination with security forces and had previously received passports through prominent western Sydney doctor Jamal Rifi.