Opposition Leader Angus Taylor offered two numbers that represent taxpayer-funded support.
Pensioners: $31,309
ISIS Brides: $46,889
Taylor presented these figures in a social media video where he says:
‘We’re getting close to the Federal Budget and you’re going to hear a lot of big numbers being thrown around by Labor. But there are two numbers Australians really should pay attention to. Now, depending on their circumstances, these ISIS Brides returning to Australia will get access to $46,889 in taxpayer funds. Meanwhile, this is how much a pensioner gets access to: $31,309. Now, think about that.
‘Someone who has been working hard all their life, paying taxes, gets access to less than the so-called ISIS Brides. People who have supported a death cult – a terrorist organisation – this is wrong.
‘And I’m calling on the government to permanently ban these ISIS sympathisers from getting access to welfare benefits. Australians expect their taxes to go to those who really need it. Not to Islamist extremists.’
This sentiment is well-represented within the wider Australian community. Not only is it commonly recognised that welfare is unfairly distributed to services such as the NDIS over pensioners or struggling homeless young people, many believe those who leave the country to join an organisation that seeks violence against Australia should be permanently excluded.
This is a feeling…
It is unlikely to be a workable legal reality thanks to the suffocating duvet of international agreements, treaties, and human rights constraints signed by both Labor and Liberal governments. Meanwhile, our domestic legal ecosystem has shown itself to be woeful on similar matters.
It is also true that since ISIS formed in 1999, no Australian government has made a serious attempt to strip citizenship and permanently exile those who pledged their allegiance and headed to Syria.
Indeed, the current Labor Party has repeatedly filled the headlines with excuses about being bound by the law to explain why the latest batch of ISIS Brides cruised into Sydney and Melbourne. This ignores the obvious reality that politicians in Canberra write the laws and, if they so wished, could write laws in contradiction to international agreements just as other nations do when acting in self-interest.
Aside from the vague fear of being excluded at international conferences (unlikely with friends such as the UK and US), Australia has always had the ability, though perhaps not the will, to banish ISIS supporters from our shores forever.
However, attempting to deny Australians on Australian soil (or indeed anyone within the borders) of welfare would be significantly more difficult than simply locking the farm gate, as they say.
The world is not going to turn on its head because Australia leaves a few dozen ISIS sympathisers in the Syrian desert, but local media will have a fit if welfare is stripped from those within the Islamic community, even if they are associated with potentially illegal extremism.
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson would never have let anyone associated with ISIS into the country. Of that, we can be pretty confident, if her press releases are to believed.
On May 6, she accused the Labor government of having a radical Islam-themed ‘Stockholm syndrome’ adding the allegation:
‘…Labor’s politically motivated, fear-driven coddling of Islamic extremism was complicit in the rising antisemitism which led to the Bondi massacre…’
Harsh words for a government that has commissioned an expensive, and arguably meandering, Royal Commission that has guidelines insisting on maintaining social cohesion instead of the obvious threat of Islamic terrorism.
Senator Hanson also said: ‘The testimony from Australians at the Royal Commission has been shocking. The antisemitism these people have experienced seems little different to what German Jews experienced in the 1930s.’
Is this the legacy of social cohesion cultivated by progressive politics and policies of multiculturalism?
Why have the most ‘liberal’ two decades in Australia’s history created the most dangerous religious environment on record? Is this not a failure of ideology? Proof that left-wing through is dangerous for the society it meddles in?
In the last few months, and despite assurances from the Home Affairs Minister that there are proper checks happening, we have seen hateful preachers and very concerning social media ‘stars’ fly in additionally to the ISIS Brides.
If these so-called ‘checks’ couldn’t root out celebrities famous for their antisemitism and questionable politics, how much confidence can Australians have about the ‘checking’ that went on for the tens of thousands of ordinary people crossing the border?
‘Labor has no conviction on this issue, nowhere to hide, and no plans to make Australians safer against the ideology of political Islam. Many Australians have been killed in the perverted cause of this ideology, the very existence of which Labor cannot even bring itself to acknowledge,’ finished Senator Hanson.
‘This ideology has no place in Australia. It goes against principles on which our nation was founded: the rule of law, freedom of speech and religion; secular democracy. This ideology has no room in the world for anyone who doesn’t submit to it. Labor has submitted without even realising it.’
Opposing radical Islam is a shared value between the warring factions of conservative politics, although the limitation on the words used for this opposition sit within the usual restraints of each party. Liberals will wink and nod, the Nationals lean forward to the camera. One Nation tempts retaliation in the Senate, often from their fellow conservatives. Who can forget the censure motions against Pauline herself in the leadup to the Bondi massacre?
While the government probably hopes the arrest of some ISIS Brides will calm the outrage (this is a long way from conviction and serving time for any alleged offences), many fear nothing will change. Nothing changed in 2019, 2022, and 2025. So far, none have served jail time with only one conviction.
It has not been lost on the wider public that there appears to be no punishment whatsoever for joining a terrorist organisation despite a law existing saying that there should be.
Forget banning access to public funds, we might wonder why government did not use its 20-odd years to pass laws that involve mandatory sentencing with extremely long custodial periods and strengthen the ones that already exist.
Who knows, maybe a 50-year automatic conviction upon return might have stopped ISIS supporters from returning without the need for all this legal complexity…
As it stands, Australians are more likely to go to jail for a mean tweet about whatever the trending Woke talking point is than flying to another country to join a terror group. Think about how utterly broken our legal system is.
Australians do not need unkeepable promises or stern words, they need serious consideration and an investigation into why, exactly, the system is broken.
Politicians and their staffers are paid a fortune. Use your resources and get back to us with something real.
Flat White is written by Alexandra Marshall. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
