Senators clash over alleged 'ISIS brides' treatment | Today Show Australia

More now on the latest batch of so -called licensed brides who return home in what can only be described as a covert operation.All six of them avoiding arrest on arrival.Nationals leader Matt Canavan and independent MP Monique Ryan join me now to discuss.Morning guys, nice to see you.Okay Matty, first up Syria to Sydney and Melbourne and out the side door under AFP protection into government -funded hotel stays.Your reaction?

Look, everything just seems a bit chaotic under this Government right now, from tax to our border, nothing seems to be properly managed.We've effectively got the situation here where the Syrian Government has decided who comes into Australia, not the Australian Government.The Australian Government has taken a hands -off approach here and given they have charged some of these returnees, they've excluded another How do we really know who's coming back to our country?What the risks are?We don't believe the Government has used the powers it has here to take more time and consider these.We offered to give the Government more powers in the Parliament but clearly the Government had a hidden agenda here to bring these people back and it outsourced that job to the Syrian Government because it didn't have the guts to stand behind it itself.

Monique, we're seeing some pretty ugly video of their personal security assaulting photographers.Have a look at this.

Don't touch me bro.That's assault.

Alright, are you satisfied with this outcome as well?

I think that was a characteristically incoherent summary from Senator Canavan.I mean, the government has been watching the repatriation of these women and children very closely.It has taken steps to exclude at least one individual from Australia, and some of them have been arrested on their arrival, which I think suggests that the government is watching the situation closely and monitoring it.With respect to how those people have been treated as they arrive in the airport, I think We're talking about kids who've grown up in a camp in Syria who haven't been exposed to Australia at all.And I would suggest that we should treat them sensitively and gently upon their arrival.And remember that these are vulnerable kids.

And the last thing they need to be subjected to on their arrival is an aggressive media back.

Do you think, really?

Yes.They're children.And they're women.And they don't need to be approached by aggressive journalists looking for a mediagram.

You know what some of these women went over there to do, though?

Look, if the women are guilty of crimes, then they should be charged with them and held responsible for them.But how do we know?

You say the government's got an oversight over this, Monique, but they've said themselves that they've taken a hands -off approach.How do we know?We have no idea.And this particular return apparently has been completely organised, funded, led by the Syrian government.Shouldn't our own government, shouldn't the Australian government be in charge of our borders, not the Syrian government?

The US administration, Marco Rubio, has asked us to engage in the repatriation of these individuals from Syria.Well I don't think America should be in charge of our borders either.The Canadian government, French government and European countries have actively engaged in the repatriation of their citizens at the request of the US administration.It makes perfect sense that we look after Australian citizens and that if they are going to return to this country that we have control over the circumstances.

Let's move on, let's keep going.The PM is reportedly looking to walk back some CGT changes, you know those changes that just needed to happen, Matt.

Well, the only thing more shambolic than our borders right now, Carl, is the nation's budget and the proposed tax changes from this Government.It's a complete and utter mess.Less than two weeks now after the budget was handed down, you have the Prime Minister undermining his own Treasurer every day, seemingly flagging more and more carve -outs and changes.Regardless of this mess,the Government apparently plans to put in legislation tomorrow about these changes.I mean, how can they present laws to the Parliament when they themselves have no idea what they're doing?

They have no idea who this is going to cover.They should pause and stop and get proper feedback from the business community that they've so clearly missed.

Okay Monique, on that one, small businesses in your electorate, how are they articulating their concerns to you?

The small businesses are saying that they want the threshold for the CGT to be raised.It hasn't been raised since 2007 and I think that that is something which is on the table.It's actively in discussion.It's something that I raised with the Treasurer yesterday and which will be I think a focus of some of the changes to the legislation which will be seen for the first time in Parliament today.

working on it but hey our power prices are going down.

They're not going down, Carl.They've gone up and up in this Government.They're up about $500 for the average family since this Government got in power and Chris Bowen got rewarded with a whole big new office with massive amounts of new staff, spent $500 ,000 almost on travel already and as you say $150 million in total.I mean this Government's wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on The Voice, hundreds of millions more on a failed bid to host the Climate Change Conference and now even though we missed out on the Climate Change Olympics, we're still left with a bill.How did that work out for us?

You'll have a contrary opinion of that, Monique?

$8 .7 billion is what the Climate Change Authority has said that climate change will cost us by 2050 if we don't act on it.And I would point out that Tony Abbott wasted $400 million on the G20 in 2014.

Oh, just government waste is such a great thing to wake up to, isn't it?Let's hope we're all green tonight.Good on you guys.Exactly.