Topics: ISIS Brides, Trump’s State of the Union address

SHARRI MARKSON: Now, a group of ISIS brides detained in Syria have begged the prime minister to repatriate their children at any cost, even if it means being separated. One of the mothers, Zahra Ahmed, told The Guardian that they can't cope anymore and they can't understand why they're in this situation. Meanwhile, the Daily Tele is reporting that questions have been raised about the legality of the steps taken, or allegedly taken, by Dr. Jamal Rifi, who is reported to have assisted with the passport applications. Joining me now is Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Dave Sharma. Dave, thanks for joining me. So, what do you think about this? Could there be questions of legality over the handing out of passports if that's what an Australian is doing in Syria?

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DAVE SHARMA: I think there very serious questions to answer here, Shari, and this is the problem with the government basically outsourcing its diplomacy and foreign policy to private citizens. The Passport Act is quite clear here. Section 32 makes it an offense for someone to be holding or in possession of someone else's passport. Section 37 makes it an offense to carry someone else's passport across an international boundary. Now, clearly, someone has taken these 34 or 35 passports, is in possession of them, who is not the passport holder, has taken them across international boundaries. Those offenses carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail, so these are very serious offenses. And my question is to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Foreign Minister, were they aware that they were going to be aiding assisting the commission of a crime by handing out passports like this?

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SHARRI MARKSON: Mm. I mean, there certainly are questions, because I mean, as anyone knows, if you try and collect someone mail at the post office, let alone a passport, even if it's a family member and you're trying to pick up their mail at the, the post office, it's impossible, let alone 34 passports. I think there certainly needs to be more questions answered here by the Albanese government on whether any permission or authority was given to an Australian to do this. Eh, just finally, what do you think about the suggestion from one of the mothers that some of the children should be repatriated? I mean, surely most mothers wouldn't wanna be separated from their kids.

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DAVE SHARMA: No, I don't think so, and I, I can't imagine that anyone thinks that's in the best interests of the children. I mean, look, I have sympathy for the children, but I also am quite conscious that it's the mothers of these children that have put themselves in this predicament, and their children, in this predicament by, leaving Australia, against all the advice, going to a, a terrorist zone, against our laws at the time, and joining a listed terrorist organisation. I mean, as Anthony Albanese himself has said, "They've made their bed. They now need to lie in it."

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SHARRI MARKSON: Just on Trump's State of the Union address, he gave an update on negotiations with Iran today. Have a look.

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[CLIP STARTS]

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DONALD TRUMP: Some terrible people. They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America. We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words, "We will never have a nuclear weapon."

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[CLIP ENDS]

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SHARRI MARKSON: I mean, listening to that, do you expect a US attack on Iran will be imminent, or a military strike, I should say?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, I think the likelihood's quite high, Shari. I mean, there's two US aircraft carrier battle groups in theater at the moment. This is the biggest US military buildup in the Middle East since the prelude to the Iraq War in 2003. Not only are there aircraft carrier battle groups there Are, joint strike fighters. There is air-to-air refuelers, there's growler aircraft, there's destroyers, there's any number of assets. So, Donald Trump certainly has the means in place right now to stage quite a significant strike on Iranian nuclear and military, and civilian leadership capabilities. The question of whether he does so, of course, is, depends on the diplomatic track and depends on his own decisions.

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SHARRI MARKSON: Yeah. It'll be fascinating to see. It's all in place, as you say, so it's just a matter of time. And, these things tend to happen on the weekends, don't you find? Whenever Israel and the US has been involved in an unexpected strike before, it has usually been Saturday night, or, or even Friday night, their time.

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, well, often that's the case, and I think Donald Trump's past record here has been he wants, for good military reasons, an element of strategic surprise. So, although there's a buildup and he's given a deadline of 15 days as of last Thursday, we're... what are we now, nine days in, oh, six days in rather, it doesn't mean that after 15 days a strike will come. It could come before. It could come later, because I don't think he wants to telegraph exactly what he's going to do, and there are obviously very good reasons for that.

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SHARRI MARKSON: Mm. Well, I think you should make it a midweek strike then for more surprise, because we're getting used to the, the weekend strikes. All right. Dave Sharma, good to see you.

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[ENDS]