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December 5, 2025
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is under increasing pressure to explain secret talks he had with advocates who were calling for the repatriation of six "ISIS Brides"with Mr Burke asking a public servant to leave the room during the meeting.
Heavily redacted handwritten notes detailing the June meeting come after PM Anthony Albanese denied any government involvement in the operation to return the women. However the Australian Federal Police has confirmed the group was being monitored by authorities as part of an ongoing operation.
Documents released by the Senate show Mr Burke thanking the group for not speaking to media and stating the "government doesn't want to be perceived to have been paying to have them smuggled out".
In attendance were advocates from Save The Children, Department of Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster and campaigner Kamalle Dabboussy, whose daughter Mariam, a former ISIS bride, was returned to Australia in 2022 along with her three children.
Mr Burke asked the department official to leave the room to allow a "frank discussion to take place".
The Coalition has capitalised on the revelations, with Sussan Ley stating the Prime Minister and Mr Burke had "misled" Australians.
While her comments fell short of calling for the minister's resignation, she called on Labor to answer key questions about the meeting.
"These are not people returning from a holiday where they got lost overseas somehow. This is a national security issue," she said.
"These are members of a death cult which had, at its heart, the destruction of the Australian way of life."
Coalition finance spokesman James Paterson, who obtained the documents under a Senate questions on notice, said Mr Burke should be "under very serious pressure" to explain why he asked the public servant to leave the room.
"We can only imagine what happened after the public servant left the room. And that's the question that Tony Burke must front up and answer today," he told Sky News.
Although Coalition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said he was not opposed to the government providing assistance to the ISIS brides cohort, he said Labor had acted in secrecy.
"The Prime Minister said that reports were inaccurate and that the government wasn't in any way involved in bringing ISIS brides back to Australia," he said.
"Either he was lied to by his minister or he was in on this deceit of the Australian people."
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles defended the meeting and said the notes confirm the government was not involved in the repatriation.
"There was a request, but we did not engage in a repatriation beyond doing what was legally required," he said.
"The government did not assist any of the repatriations that occurred here. And that's the consistent point that Tony Burke has been making."
Mr Burke also claimed the notes were consistent with the government's position.
He maintained "no repatriation" and "no assistance" was provided the government beyond what public servants are "legally obliged to do".