JOINT MEDIA RELEASE – ALBANESE LABOR GOVERNMENT MUST ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT ISIS BRIDES

THE HON SUSSAN LEY MP
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR FARRER

SENATOR THE HON MICHAELIA CASH
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ACTING SHADOW MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA

MEDIA STATEMENT

ALBANESE LABOR GOVERNMENT MUST ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT ISIS BRIDES

Friday, 3 October 2025

The Coalition is gravely concerned about reporting that half a dozen ISIS brides and their children have secretly returned to Australia.

This is a highly dangerous cohort of individuals who associated themselves with the barbaric Islamic State Regime. The Albanese Labor Government must come clean: either they knew about this cohort returning and hid it from the Australian public, or worse, family members of Islamic State terrorists returned to Australia without the Government’s knowledge.

This is nothing short of a dereliction of duty by the Albanese Labor Government. These are people who willingly travelled to a war zone and aligned themselves with one of the most barbaric terrorist organisations in history.

Now they appear to have returned secretly, raising fundamental questions about how and why they were allowed back in. Australians deserve answers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke have either bungled this process or deliberately concealed it. Either way, they have invited risk into our communities without transparency, without consultation, and without the knowledge of the Australian people.

Tony Burke should front up to every community where these people will be housed and explain why they were let in and how the Government will ensure community safety.

Assyrian Christian Australians, victims of ISIS themselves, have been ignored once again. Their communities may now be forced to live alongside those who chose to support the very terrorists who inflicted such horrors upon them. The Coalition will pursue this matter relentlessly until the Australian people receive answers to these questions.

ENDS

QUESTIONS THE ALBANESE GOVERNMENT MUST ANSWER TODAY:

Where are the ISIS brides now?

Were any of these people complicit in terrorist activity in Syria?

Were communities told that terrorist families were moving in?

How did these ISIS Brides return?

• What channels did the Government, its agencies or intermediaries use?
• Who in the Government authorised or signed off on their entry?
• Were foreign actors or third parties involved?

What security checks were done?

• What advice did national security agencies give?
• What did ASIO, the AFP, or allied intelligence partners recommend?
• Did any agencies warn against their return?
• What was the final advice to Minister Tony Burke, and what was his decision-making process?

What protections are in place now for the community?

• Will they be subject to deradicalisation programs?
• Are these women under surveillance, control orders or electronic monitoring?
• What counter-terrorism measures are being deployed to prevent radicalisation or the spread of extremist ideology?

What is the cost to taxpayers?

• How many resources are being spent on de-radicalisation and monitoring?
• What is the plan if these individuals re-engage with extremist networks in Australia?

Why the secrecy from the Albanese Labor Government?

Why did Australians have to learn about this from the media instead of their Prime Minister? What other repatriations are being planned without the knowledge of the Australian people?