Australian women and children trapped in Syrian camps are being labelled "tormentors" as the debate over their evacuation takes an ugly turn.
Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley used inflammatory language while expressing sympathy for Syrian community members living in Australia.
"It is just not good enough they woke up and saw it on the front page of their newspaper," she told reporters on Thursday.
"Families they had fled from, their tormenters in the Middle East, were going to be allowed safe passage to Australia."
The federal government is in the process of bringing 16 women - who are family members of Islamic State members - home to Australia after almost four years.
Dozens of children will also be evacuated from the al-Roj detention camp as part of the rescue mission.
Ms Ley said repatriating the Australian women and children posed a serious safety risk and called on the prime minister to "step up" in the fight against terror.
"This is not a question of compassion, it's a question of keeping Australians safe," she said.
"While it pains me to see any child or any family in difficult circumstances, we have to acknowledge the real risk of radicalisation."
Labor's national president Wayne Swan said any decision to bring Australian citizens home would be based on security advice.
"We can't just stick our head in the sand and pretend these issues don't exist," he said.
"It might not be palatable for some people - it is not all that palatable to me - but they are Australian citizens and Australian citizens have some rights and they deserve the protection of their government."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Australian women should not be let back into the country.
He said they had given up that right when they chose to leave.
"The circumstances of seeing kids there is terrible, but that's been a family decision," he told 2GB radio.
"They've done the wrong thing by their children and the concern I've got is about the Australian children here who would suffer if a terrorist attack was committed upon their return."
