Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I make a number of points. The first is Australian citizens are entitled to apply for and, if they meet eligibility requirements, be issued an Australian passport. I also indicate that a passport can only be refused or cancelled on security grounds if a competent authority, which includes a security agency such as ASIO, requests it. No such request was made. I'm not in a position—as you know, Senator—to go to individual cases. As a general point, we are aware, as the Prime Minister has made clear and Minister Burke has made clear, that a number of women and children in Syria are seeking to return to Australia. We have known that for some time. We are not assisting the cohort to return to Australia.