Updated ,first published
The last of the Islamic State-linked Australian women stranded in a detention camp in Syria has been granted a permit to return to Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has revealed.
The Sydney woman, Hodan Abby, was blocked from boarding a flight in Damascus in May under a temporary exclusion order issued by the federal government.
She was later reported to have disappeared with her young disabled daughter inside the Syrian prison system.
Burke said that Abby had formally requested to return to Australia, and the government could no longer prevent her from returning to the country.
“We received the final advice yesterday that we can no longer have an exclusion condition for her,” Burke told ABC radio on Thursday morning.
Burke said that Australian intelligence and security agencies were ready for her arrival and the permit for her to return will include a raft of monitoring measures.
“She will have to report where she lives, where she works, where she studies, if she books a ticket to anywhere, for telecommunications she cannot use any telecommunications device without giving 24 hours notice,” Burke said.
Government sources said Abby would be subjected to “significant and invasive surveillance”.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said his agency was ready for the woman’s return.
“ASIO is not all-seeing and all-knowing, and we don’t want to be, but I can assure your listeners that actually the full use of my organisation’s capability and powers will be used when this individual returns to this country,” Burgess told ABC radio.
“When there are Australians who have been overseas in places like Syria and Iraq who represent security concerns, we assess them.
“We know the level of the risk, and anyone who’s considered a high or medium risk gets my agency’s full attention.”
This masthead reported earlier this year that Abby’s nine-year-old daughter has a series of debilitating medical conditions caused by shrapnel that has been lodged in her body for most of her life.
Medical records show the child suffers from chronic headaches, reduced mobility, developmental challenges and potentially permanent paralysis if the shrapnel is not removed soon.
Abby left her western Sydney home with a friend in 2015 and travelled to Sydney when she was aged 18.
The pair told their families they were going on holiday.
Two rounds of so-called ISIS brides returned to Australia in May, with some being charged with crimes-against-humanity offences.
Burke also confirmed, following a major speech by Burgess on Wednesday night, that the terror alert warning system was under review to see if it needs to be updated to reflect the true nature of modern national security risks.
“There’s a review that’s happening on that,” Burke said.
“The thing that matters is making sure that the Australian people, but also all the law enforcement agencies, get the best possible information.”
The terror threat level has been set at probable – meaning a greater than 50 per cent chance of an onshore terror attack occurring or being planned within the next 12 months – since October 2024.
Burgess said in his annual threat assessment that “I do not believe the system was designed for a situation like the one we now face”.
“Probable does not tell the full story,” he said.
More to come
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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