‘System working’: Labor defends Syria repatriations following arrest of woman on terror charge

‘Anyone who knowingly went to aid Isis deserves the full weight of the law,’ says minister Bill Shorten

The government has defended its decision to repatriate 17 Australian women and children from a Syrian internment camp, saying the charging of one of the returned women with a terror offence is evidence of the “system working as it should”.

Mariam Raad, 31, has been ordered to surrender her passport and report to police, under strict bail conditions issued Friday. She has been charged with entering and remaining in a “declared area” – al-Raqqa province in Syria – when it was under the control of the so-called Islamic State in 2014.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup