The Australian government has repatriated four Australian women and their 13 children from a Syrian refugee camp, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said on Saturday in a resumption of a controversial program.
The repatriation to New South Wales state, criticized by the Liberal-National opposition, is part of bringing back from Syria dozens of Australian women and children who are relatives of dead or jailed fighters from the so-called Islamic State group.
The repatriation followed similar moves by the United States, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain and Canada, O’Neil said.
Local media previously reported some women may be charged with terrorism offences or for entering Syria illegally.
“The Australian government will always work to ensure that people are kept safe here in Australia, that is our priority,” he said, according to an official transcript of his remarks in Griffith, in regional New South Wales.