Australia faces a lawsuit aimed at forcing the government to repatriate Islamic State fighters' wives and children from a Syrian refugee camp, lawyers for their families told AFP Thursday.
The threat of a lawsuit comes the same day as parliament passed legislation to prevent Australian citizens who have fought for the Islamic State from returning home for up to two years under so-called "temporary exclusion orders".
Lawyers for the Australia-based families of nearly 30 women and children currently held in Syria's Al-Hawl camp said the firm was preparing to refer their case to the Federal Court in coming days.
Sarah Condon, of the Melbourne law firm Stary Norton Halphen, said the government had a legal obligation to protect Australian civilians abroad and called for a timeframe for the extraction of the families living in conditions she described as "increasingly volatile and dangerous".
"The urgency therefore arises from the hellish conditions of the camp, and the psychological damage that is caused to children when they are being indefinitely detained," Condon told AFP.
Eight orphans of two Australian IS fighters were removed from the camp in June into the care of Australian officials.
"We understand that it is not an easy logistical task, and that it may take time," Condon said of repatriating the remaining families.
"We know that it is a possible task however, as they have already successfully returned two families to Australia -- we commend those efforts, and urge the efforts to be extended to all women and children."