Most Australians say ISIS brides and their children SHOULDN’T be allowed to come home
- Some 20 Australian women and 46 children are stranded in refugee camps
- A Newspoll found 59 per cent of voters are opposed to their return
- The survey polled 1,634 voters between October 17 and 19
Voters are mostly opposed to the repatriation of Islamic State wives and children holding Australian citizenship.
Some 20 Australian women and 46 children are stranded in refugee camps in northern Syria following the defeat of ISIS.
A Newspoll found 59 per cent of 1,634 voters polled between October 17 and 19 are opposed to their return.
Some 20 Australian women and 46 children are stranded in refugee camps in northern Syria following the defeat of ISIS. Pictured: Refugees in Syria’s Al-Hawl camp
A total of 36 per cent were in favour, The Australian reported on Tuesday.
The federal government has so far resisted calls for them to be brought home, saying the situation is too dangerous and would endanger the lives of defence troops sent to retrieve them.
Opposition to their return was strongest amongst Coalition voters at 70 per cent, according to the Newspoll.
But Labor voters appeared to be split on the issue, with 50 per cent in favour of their repatriation and 45 per cent against.
Home Affairs Department secretary Mike Pezzullo told a Senate estimates hearing that bringing the Australians back was ‘high risk’ and described the regions where the camps are situated as the ‘badlands’.
‘It would it would have been much better, of course, for certain adults not to have made certain decisions to travel,’ he told the hearing in Canberra on Monday.
Women buy food at the Al Hawl camp in Syria in September