Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:32): (1083) My question is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Minister, it was reported in the Age that Victoria Police received advance notice on the recent return of ISIS brides into Victoria. The Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, Yazidi, Druze, Alawite, Shia Muslim and other communities, who we have welcomed into Australia, have been persecuted out of their homelands at the hands of the Islamic State death cult. It is also widely documented that many of these ISIS brides assisted their husband fighters with the enslavement of these very persecuted minorities, which is adding to the trauma of these affected communities. Have you or your department consulted with these affected communities about the return of ISIS brides to Melbourne?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:33): I thank Mr Mulholand for that question, and what I would say in response to that is that these are matters that are squarely within the responsibility of the Commonwealth government and federal agencies. Of course it is not unusual for our federal agencies, including the AFP, to work closely with VicPol on matters that relate to immigration, but these are not matters that are within my responsibility as the multicultural affairs minister here in Victoria. But I can understand that these issues would cause some consternation for those communities who have fled the horrors of ISIS, and our government works hard across a range of different communities, who have arrived here under very challenging circumstances, when it comes to working with them on settlement services and on broader social cohesion efforts. In terms of the decisions around people returning from other parts of the world, I would suggest that your questions would be better referred to the Commonwealth.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:34): The Department of Home Affairs and minister have consistently acknowledged that they need the cooperation of the state government for repatriated detainees from Syria as they need assistance with support services, deradicalisation programs and engagement, housing, schooling and trauma support that will be required to manage the ISIS brides. What action is the government taking, like deradicalisation programs, engagement and trauma support that will be required to manage them, given they have been living for years as part of a terrorist death cult?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:35): Again, Mr Mulholland, settlement services are also the primary responsibility of the Commonwealth. Our government during the 10 years that the coalition were in power in Canberra had to step up and supplement that effort, and we continue to do so through important programs supporting asylum seekers and refugees who arrive here in Victoria in great numbers. We support a number of important organisations, including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Refugee Legal and AMES. The primary funder is the Commonwealth. We have recently urged the Commonwealth, at a meeting of all state and territory multicultural affairs ministers, to actually step up their effort in this area and reinstitute some of the levels of funding that existed before the coalition ripped them away.