DAWE: Prime Minister. Women who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State have returned to Australia.
CLARKE: That’s correct. Two flights.
DAWE: Did the government bring them back?
CLARKE: We provided no assistance. I want to be very clear on that. No assistance whatsoever.
DAWE: How did they get here?
CLARKE: They made their own way.
DAWE: On commercial flights.
CLARKE: On flights, yes.
DAWE: And they landed at Melbourne Airport and Sydney Airport.
CLARKE: Airports are public facilities.
DAWE: And they were met by the AFP.
CLARKE: That’s standard procedure. That’s not assistance. That’s essentially the reverse of assistance.
DAWE: Will they be charged?
CLARKE: Anyone who has broken the law will face the full force of the law.
DAWE: Have they broken the law?
CLARKE: That’s a matter for the security agencies.
DAWE: What do the security agencies say?
CLARKE: They’re working through it.
DAWE: They’ve landed.
CLARKE: They have, yes.
DAWE: And the security agencies are still working through it.
CLARKE: The law is thorough. That’s what makes it the full force.
DAWE: They were taken out a back entrance at Sydney Airport.
CLARKE: Airports have multiple exits. That’s a safety requirement.
DAWE: Did the government arrange the back entrance?
CLARKE: We provided no assistance.
DAWE: Someone arranged it.
CLARKE: Logistics were managed appropriately.
DAWE: By whom?
CLARKE: By the relevant people.
DAWE: Prime Minister. These women went to Syria and joined a terrorist organisation.
CLARKE: They went to Syria.
DAWE: With Islamic State.
CLARKE: That’s what some reporting suggests.
DAWE: We know that.
CLARKE: We know what we know. What that means legally is what the security agencies are working through.
DAWE: So they’re home.
CLARKE: They are.
DAWE: Not charged.
CLARKE: Not at this stage.
CLARKE: With no government assistance.
DAWE: That’s been very clearly established.
CLARKE: Through a back entrance nobody organised.
DAWE: At an airport the government doesn’t own.
CLARKE: Correct.
DAWE: Thank you Prime Minister.
CLARKE: Thank you. The government takes national security with the utmost seriousness. I think today has demonstrated that comprehensively.
DAWE: It has demonstrated something.
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