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Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has implored the opposition not to politicise the issue of 34 Australian IS brides and their children’s return home as she faced a barrage of questions on Seven’s Sunrise this morning from host Natalie Barr and fellow panelist Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie.
McKenzie called on the prime minister to enact a temporary exclusion order on the group, a counter-terrorism measure that stops citizens from re-entering the country if the government believes they pose security threats.
“What’s concerning is that the Labor Party does seem to be incredibly compromised with this cohort. We’ve got one of Tony Burke’s political associates [who] has been driving the push to return this cohort. Now, I can’t imagine any more greater conflict for the home affairs minister to have a man who has literally launched the Friends of Tony Burke in a federal election campaign simultaneously driving the repatriation of ISIS brides,” McKenzie said.
“Right now, Labor is looking incredibly politically compromised with the return of the ISIS brides.”
O’Neil responded by calling McKenzie’s claims “outrageous” and “offensive”, and accused the opposition of politicising the issue.
“Everything that you’re talking about here is politics, politics, politics. Our government is concerned only with the safety of Australians, and it is offensive and wrong to suggest that a person charged with protecting the national security of our country is doing something for political reasons without a shred of evidence. And I think you should stop saying that, and the opposition should stop saying that, if that’s in their talking points for the day,” she said.
“These are important national security issues that deserve to be dealt with outside the realm of the normal cut and thrust of politics. We are charged with defending our country and protecting our country, and that is the only way, the only prism that the home affairs minister will be using when he thinks about the use of his powers.”
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