The head of the Northern Territory branch of the Labor party has allegedly left Australia with the intention of fighting with Kurdish forces against Islamic State in Syria.
Matthew Gardiner, 43, who was also secretary of the United Voice union until his recent resignation, has not been heard from for several weeks and is thought to have left the country to join the battle against the Islamist militant group, the ABC reports.
The circumstances surrounding Gardiner (reportedly an ex-Australian Army soldier) leaving the country are part of an Australian federal police investigation, an AFP spokesman confirmed to Guardian Australia. The AFP could not comment further, he said.
Under Australia’s newly legislated foreign fighter laws, should Gardiner go to Syria and try to return, he could face 10 years in prison, regardless of which side he is fighting on.
“We know there are some Australians who think they’ve made the right choice in becoming involved in overseas conflicts, but that choice only adds to the suffering in Syria and Iraq and it’s putting those Australians and others in mortal danger,” a spokesman for the attorney-general, George Brandis, told the ABC.
Aimed at addressing domestic terrorism threats, the laws passed in October last year set out new crimes for fighting in designated “no-go zones”, and for “advocating” terrorism. The Al-Raqqa province in Syria has since been declared a no-go zone.
“The purpose of this provision … is to say that there are some areas of the world, areas under the control of terrorist armies, which are at war against their own populations as they are in northern Iraq, which are engaged in genocide and religious persecution and subversion of legitimate governments, to which Australians should not travel,” said the attorney general, George Brandis in October.
A spokeswoman for United Voices confirmed to Guardian Australia that Gardiner had resigned as secretary but did not know when. She said the union was not commenting further at this stage.
The NT branch of the Labor party stood down Gardiner as president and suspended his membership, after the reports emerged late on Sunday.
“In accordance with the rules of the NTALP, vice president Kay Densley will act as president until the 2015 conference,” party secretary Kent Rowe said in a statement. He declined to comment further while the AFP investigation continued.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, was aware of reports about Gardiner but would not make a statement until they were confirmed, a federal Labor spokesman said.
On Saturday Brandis revealed the number of Australians believed to have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State was now estimated at 90.
