Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone lashes Labor for resettling ISIS brides in Sydney's west ahead of Clare O'Neil meeting 25/11/2022 (See translation in Arabic section)
A frustrated western Sydney mayor has called out the government ahead of a meeting with Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil over its failure to do its due diligence before controversially resettling ISIS brides in his community. Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone has been vocal about the four women and 13 children who were repatriated in a secret Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) mission from a Syrian camp and resettled in his city earlier this month. He told Sky News Australia on Friday the "real victims" were western Sydney residents and reiterated the region was not a "dumping ground for the government". "I mean, it’s a decision for the government if they repatriate, but I think there’s a sense out there in the community they want justice in regard to many people that turn their backs on our country, go and fight against our own soldiers and then want to come back after they lose," he said to First Edition's Peter Stefanovic. "We’re a very welcoming community... but the one thing we can’t have is people that actually perpetrated or affiliated to people that have committed terrible crimes actually living next door to our community who actually escaped them." Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone has made another dig at the federal
government hours before his meeting with Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil on
Friday morning. Picture: Supplied Mr Carbone feared sections of the community who fled from Islamic State regimes for a better life in Australia would be forced to "live next door" to the IS brides. However, Stefanovic posed the women had previously lived in the area before they travelled overseas, also noting they had families in the region. But the mayor flagged he had not heard of any news or announcements regarding the resettlement of other brides in Melbourne who had families there. "We haven’t heard the government put any of them in Melbourne so far and that’s where their families are," he said. "The concern is they’re going to put them all in western Sydney. "So the government needs to answer that and in regards to saying their families are here, well this is where their families were when they left and they were happy to leave this country and their family at the time and actually go overseas and aid and abet those fighting against Australian soldiers." Mr Carbone was then posed where the IS families should be resettled if not in Fairfield. He firstly insisted on an inquiry to ensure "they didn't commit any crimes" before they returned and secondly pointed to Australia being a large country. "I think Australia is a very, very big place. I know where they shouldn’t go and that is western Sydney living next door to the victims," he said. "I mean, how can you not think about the victims? The government is trying to portray these people as victims but yet they’re really insensitive when it comes to people who have seen their family decapitated before their very eyes." Mr Carbone: hopes to have an "open and honest" conversation with Ms O'Neil but will make sure he expresses the communities concerns. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman The community has been largely left angered over the failure from the government to consult the public before the families were moved back. Mr Carbone gave Ms O'Neil credit for agreeing to meet on Friday and was hoping to have an "honest, open and robust" conversation but stressed he would make his opinions known before taking another stab at the government. "A good result for us is they are not resettled in Fairfield, not next to victims and the government looks at other places and... treats every area the same," he said. "What we have seen is no one is getting resettled in Melbourne. There’s families down there. "Why is that? Why is that the case? Why is it always western Sydney? Why’s it always us? Is it because we don’t have a voice? Well I can tell you we do have a voice and we will stand up for our community and we’re going to make sure that we speak up." |