Barbara Miller: Another group of Australian women and children linked to Islamic State has left a camp in northeastern Syria for the families of killed and jailed IS fighters. Their departure is likely to reignite a political fight about whether they pose a threat to national security and how they should be dealt with on their return to Australia. Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran is in Jerusalem. Matt, what do we know about this bus seen leaving Al Roj? Who's on it and where is it headed?
Matthew Doran : Barb, good morning. We understand that this bus has been taking the group from the Al Roj camp, which is in the very top northeastern corner of Syria in Kurdish controlled territory, to the Syrian capital Damascus. And it's from there that this group is going to be beginning their onward travel to Australia. The exact timing of that is not currently clear, but it is expected within the next couple of days or so. This group had been waiting in the Al Roj camp for the moment to launch their bid for freedom to start that journey back to Australia. We do believe that this is the last of the Australians who were in the Al Roj camp, some seven women and 14 children. But we haven't got express confirmation of that because camp officials are refusing to speak to the media at the moment. They are saying that this situation is far too sensitive and they don't want to comment there. In saying that, that group, if it is all of the Australians, it will also include one woman who has been issued with a temporary exclusion order banning her from travelling to Australia for up to two years on national security grounds. What that individual does, if indeed they are out of the camp now, remains to be seen. They won't be able to travel with the rest of the group, but it does appear that they have left the camp as well.
Barbara Miller: And this first group that we saw return recently, they eventually flew back to Australia from Doha. It took some time after they left the camp. How are things likely to play out with this group?
Matthew Doran : Yeah, that group did actually sort of linger in Dabaskis for a while there. It was about a fortnight or so between them leaving the camp and actually being able to board those flights and travel onwards to Australia. There were four women and nine children in that group. And the moment that they landed in Australia, three of the women were arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police. Two in Melbourne who've been charged with slavery offences, one in Sydney who's been charged with joining a terrorist organisation and travelling to a declared terrorist area. Now, we don't know for certain whether or not there would be charges and arrests happening the moment that this group arrives in Australia. But certainly all of the indications from the Albanese government is that anyone in this cohort would be facing the full force of the law. So you'd have to say that they will get a fair amount of scrutiny in the next short while and the moment that they arrive in Australia there. The Albanese government, again, stressing it is not trying to help this group come back. The Prime Minister himself going so far as to say he holds the women in contempt for going to Syria in the first place, even if the children in this instance are somewhat innocent victims there. But the Albanese government has had to issue passports as a legal obligation to Australian citizens. It has conceded. It doesn't really have the power to do anything more than consider things like temporary exclusion orders, but only one of them has been issued. The federal opposition certainly demanding more be done there, even though many lawyers say that there is no legal basis to block Australian citizens from coming home, even if they do then have to face the music for their conduct over their time in Syria many years ago at the height of the so-called Islamic State caliphate.