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Michaelia Cash has slammed Anthony Albanese and his ministers as disingenuous about their stance on ISIS brides and their children returning to Australia.
Cash took aim at the likely return of the group of Australian women who had travelled to Syria with ISIS fighters, and claimed Labor was doing nothing to prevent them, and their children, from entering the country, and were actually in favour of it.
Albanese and a number of his frontbench said they oppose the return of the group of 34, despite it being unfortunate children were among them, however, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed Wednesday they had been issued Australian passports.
'I'm gonna do something really unparliamentary, and I'm gonna call bulls*** on this Prime Minister,' Cash said in a fiery interview with Sky News on Thursday.
'You are lying to the Australian people. You are assisting these women and their children, who turned their back on Australia, to come back here.
'Do not treat Australians as mugs,' she said.
Albanese when grilled about the situation during an interview with ABC on Thursday morning insisted the government would not assist the return of the group and he had 'nothing but contempt' for the parents who had travelled to the Middle East to fight.
'We will do nothing to assist these people coming back to Australia,' Albanese said.
Liberal senator Michaelia Cash (above) claimed Anthony Albanese was telling Australians 'bull****' about his involvement in the return of ISIS brides to Australia
Albanese (above) has claimed he has done nothing to assist the Australian women and children formerly associated with ISIS
But host Hamish Macdonald pushed back.
'Hold on, Prime Minister. Some of these are children, Australian children, 23 children. Do you have contempt for them?'
The Prime Minister said his anger was directed at the mothers who took them into a warzone.
'I have contempt for their parents who have put these children in that situation,' he said.
Pressed on whether Australia had a responsibility to protect children placed in danger by adults, Albanese refused to shift.
'So what are you, as a government doing to help and protect these children?' Macdonald asked.
Albanese said: 'Well, that is the responsibility of their parents and their mothers in particular, who made this decision.'
Macdonald responded: 'But in circumstances where parents endanger their children's lives, what's the responsibility of government to step in to help and protect?'
A group of 34 Australian women (some above) and children attempted to return to Australia from Syria earlier this week
'We have a firm position, which is that the mothers in this case who made this decision to travel overseas against Australia's national interest, are the responsible ones who've put their children in this position,' Albanese said.
Macdonald then asked bluntly: 'You'll do nothing to help these children?'
'We will do nothing to assist these people coming back to Australia. No, we won't,' the Prime Minister insisted.
The women and children had attempted to leave the Al Roj camp in northeast Syria earlier this week, planning to travel to Damascus before making their way to Australia.
However, they were turned back due to an apparent administrative issue, despite the group holding valid Australian passports.
It is understood the families were so confident they would be able to depart that some of their tents in the camp had already been dismantled.
'If anyone applies for a passport as a citizen, they are issued with a passport, in the same way that if someone applies for a Medicare card, they get a Medicare card,' Burke told the ABC's 7.30 program on Wednesday night.
The government has blocked one woman from returning on national security grounds, issuing a temporary exclusion order that can prevent a person from entering Australia for up to two years.
The group of ISIS brides and their children were ordered to return to their refugee camp (above) due to an apparent administrative issue
Read More ISIS bride is BANNED from returning to Australia: Albanese government blocks attempt to return
The Australian Federal Police say they are prepared to manage any security risks if the women are allowed to return, warning that anyone suspected of committing offences will face the full force of the law.'
'Where Australians returning to Australia have allegedly breached Australian law, they will be, where appropriate, and on a case-by-case basis, subject to law enforcement action,' an AFP spokesperson said in a statement.
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said if one person had been barred from entry, the rest of the cohort should also be kept out of Australia to protect the community from harm.
On Thursday Opposition leader Angus Taylor said the Coalition would provide bipartisan support to prevent the return of the group.
'These people went over to another part of the world to support ISIS. How can the prime minister justify allowing these people to come back into the country?' Taylor said.
'If we need to work with the government to pass legislation, to tighten legislation to make sure that they can't come back, we will do that.'
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