MARK RILEY: Albanese is trying to out-Howard the Liberals on ISIS brides

It was one of the most searing lines ever delivered in an Australian election campaign.

“We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come,” John Howard thundered during the 2001 campaign.

That blistering statement instantly captured the mood of an unsettled nation and unequivocally assured voters that the government “has got this”.

The applause that lifted from within the hall in Launceston that day continued throughout the campaign, carrying Howard to what had just months earlier seemed an unlikely election victory.

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York had completely changed the character of the national political discussion.

The economy, health, education, taxation and the environment had all taken a back seat as national security became the single, defining issue.

Almost a quarter of a century later, another abhorrent terrorist event is reframing the contemporary political landscape in the same way.

The Bondi massacre has raised legitimate questions about what the Albanese Government did and didn’t do to protect the Jewish community in particular, and Australians more generally against the threat of homegrown extremism exploding with murderous impact on our streets.

Just as the political fallout from September 11 contributed to the downfall of Kim Beazley as opposition leader in 2001, the reverberations from Bondi helped bring about the overthrow of Sussan Ley last week.

And just like in 2001, Australians are again looking to their Prime Minister for signs that his Government “has got this”.

This time, they’re not convinced.

Anthony Albanese delivered a series of strong statements of principle after Bondi, but voters heard him on a different, unconvincing frequency.

They either didn’t believe him or didn’t want to. And that is a big problem.

Faced with an electorate now toying with One Nation in its search for clarity on national security, immigration and border protection, Albanese changed frequencies this week. Noticeably.

Some within Labor fear he is beginning to sound like Howard.

One senior adviser told me it is actually more than that. Albanese is now saying things that even Howard wouldn’t.

Asked yesterday why his Government was refusing to help so-called ISIS brides and their children return to Australia, Albanese replied: “I have nothing but contempt for these people.”

“These people”, he qualified, were the women and not the children.

And much of Australia would agree with him.

The women had made conscious decisions to travel to Syria and marry ISIS fighters.

They were now facing the consequences of those decisions.

“My mother would have said if you make your bed you lie in it,” Albanese said earlier this week.

His Government had issued the women new passports. But only because it was legally required to do so. And Albanese insisted there would be no support given as they attempt to leave those camps and return to Australia.

Scott Morrison approved a taxpayer-funded repatriation mission in 2019 to bring back eight orphaned children. Albanese did likewise in 2022 for four women and 13 children.

But no more.

A policy decision was taken before the 2025 election to pull all assistance. Albanese has enforced that this week. Firmly.

He can’t afford this controversy exposing even a sliver of doubt about his Government’s commitment to national security.

He knows the damage that has done to Labor’s reputation since the 2001 election.

Voters are still questioning his party’s true commitment to national security.

And with One Nation hoovering up support among the disillusioned and disappointed, including in Labor’s traditional working-class base, Albanese knows this is a make-or-break moment.

It is time to talk tough.

One of the 11 ISIS brides has been slapped with a temporary exclusion order. That could delay but not prevent their return.

The orders last for two years. However, the individuals can request “permits” allowing them to return to Australia within that time under supervision.

Under the law, the minister is obliged to grant those permits but can delay their use for up to a year while ASIO assesses the threat the individual’s return may present in Australia.

In other words, the ISIS bride can seek a permit today and be back in Australia in 12 months.

The Opposition complains that the laws aren’t tough enough.

But it is their law.

The Interim Exclusion Orders were introduced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in 2019 through legislation worked up by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton with the help of Joint Intelligence Committee recommendations delivered by committee chair Andrew Hastie.

Just how many conservative Liberal fingerprints does the Opposition need on these laws to accept ownership?

As for Albanese, unlike Howard in 2001, his challenge is with Australian citizens and not foreign terrorists.

And those citizens have a constitutional right to come home, even if only to face charges.

So, he can’t exactly decide who comes to Australia in this instance.

But he is determined that he will decide the circumstances in which they come.

Mark Riley is the Seven Network’s political editor