Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:40): My question is to the Premier. In 2023 the then Department of Home Affairs secretary told a Senate committee that the repatriation of women and children detained in Syria would need to be consented to by state governments. Did the Premier consent to ISIS brides being repatriated to Melbourne?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:41): Matters regarding the return of Australian citizens from places around the globe are matters that are dealt with on a regular basis, and there are a range of protocols that are in place between the relevant federal agencies and the state-based jurisdictions that they may be returning to, and there are well-established arrangements between those agencies that operate across jurisdictions. I am not going to comment on individual circumstances about Australian or indeed Victorian citizens who are returning home, and I would hope that most reasonable people in this house would understand that those citizens deserve respect and to have their privacy also respected.

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): The Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, Druze and Alawite, as well as the Shia Muslim and other communities, have suffered tremendously at the hands of the Islamic State death cult. Has the government explained to these communities why it has not spoken out against the return of ISIS brides to Melbourne?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:43): Earlier today a number of us sat in this house to mark the ceasefire and the pathway to peace in the Middle East. I appreciate the Leader of the Opposition was not present in the house for that, and I acknowledge the contribution from the member for Caulfield, the member for Brighton and the member for Box Hill. I apologise if others spoke; I was not present. We were unified in our commitment during our contributions that we understood that the social fabric has been frayed as a result of groups in our community being used as a political weapon to cause division. We must reject and I reject this approach, and we work respectively with all groups and all faiths, because our social cohesion is too precious to be weaponised in the way the Leader of the Opposition has.

Mary-Anne Thomas interjected.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, this is your last warning.