Media commentator and former war correspondent Mike Carlton says he can’t see what is wrong with Wyatt Roy's visit to Iraqi Kurdistan after the former federal politician revealed to SBS he got caught up in a deadly IS firefight there last Thursday.
Mr Carlton said he did not see what was wrong with being a “young man curious to see how the world works.
“The world does exist beyond, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat," Mr Carlton told SBS.
“He’s a private citizen and he can go anywhere he wants to and so what. Why shouldn’t he.”
In an exclusive interview with SBS, Mr Roy, 26, a former assistant minister and Australia's youngest ever parliamentarian, said he was caught last Thursday in a deadly IS attack on Peshmerga forces after arranging a trip with the Peshmerga forces to the frontline about three to four kilometers out of the Iraqi town of Sinjar, west of Mosul.
"It wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I came to Kurdistan," he said in a from Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
"For about half an hour we were being attacked by Daesh terrorists who were somewhere between one kilometre and 500 meters away with 50-cal weapons and RPG fire and mortars."
The attack was confirmed by the international coalition, which launched two airstrikes on IS, ending the frontline confrontation.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told 3AW Mr Roy had been “stupid” to visit the war zone, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop labelled it “irresponsible” while Labor’s Penny Wong lectured him, saying “war zones are not places for people to act out their boyhood fantasies”.
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Mr Carlton suggested politicians criticising Mr Roy’s visit should take a page from Mr Roy's book.
“It would be a bloody good idea if a lot more people in his position, particularly serving politicians, actually left Canberra and went to look at this sort of thing for themselves. I doubt for example, if Julie Bishop has ever heard a shot fired.”
The other group lambasting Mr Roy were journalists who had “never moved out of the inner suburbs, who would find a trip to the Western suburbs a little beyond them,” he said.
Source: Supplied
Counter-terrorism experts express concern
However, Deakin University counter-terrorism expert Greg Barton warned Mr Roy’s encounter could have escalated to the point where he found himself in combat.
While Mr Roy had not entered a declared zone such as Mosul, which would have been illegal under Australian law, counter-terrorism expert Greg Barton warned Mr Roy’s encounter could have breached the country’s counter-terrorism legislation had the frontline confrontation escalated to the point where he found himself in combat.
“So if you’re with a group of guys who are fighting, who are firing assault rifles and the guy next to you who you’ve been in long conversations with is shot and drops his weapon and others come running at you and a gun is thrown in your direction to defend yourself, then suddenly you’re into something much more complicated,” Deakin University’s Mr Barton told SBS.
De-radicalisation expert Clarke Jones of Australian National University added that his visit might undo the work of the government in trying to prevent young people leaving Australia to fight.
“When you’ve got the government ... trying to take away fuel from the fire and stopping young people from going overseas, it’s not a good message for anybody, and certainly makes it difficult for the government to deal with,” he said.
Mr Carlton said Mr Roy had only put himself at risk. “If it had got out of hand, if he had been shot, if he had been captured, well it would have been on his own head.”
Wyatt Roy with members of the Peshmerga in Sinjar area, west of Mosul, Iraq. Source: SBS
He also said he believed Mr Roy was not setting a bad example to those susceptible to assuming extremist ideologies.
“If young Muslim kinds are radicalised and under the spell of ISIS, I don’t think Roy is going to inspire them to do anything.”
In 2015, Mr Roy was promoted to the position of Assistant Minister for Innovation.
The ‘baby of the House’ was one of a small group of key Liberal MPs instrumental in the ousting of former prime minister Tony Abbott and the elevation of Malcolm Turnbull.
