Julie Bishop has urged family and friends of girls at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Australia to report any suspicious behaviour to the police, describing it as a “brutal, barbaric practice”.
The foreign minister made the statement after Guardian Australia reported the Australian federal police were investigating whether a girl had been taken from Brisbane overseas to undergo FGM.
It is understood the father of the girl, who is believed to between four and seven years old, took her to Africa before Christmas to have FGM carried out. The girl is originally from Sierra Leone but it is believed she may have been taken to Gambia for the procedure. Police are trying to ascertain where she is.
“If somebody just presents with a passport and they’re heading off overseas and we have no evidence to provide us with any cause to prevent the person leaving, then of course that happens,” Bishop told radio station 2UE on Tuesday.
“People are free to travel on an Australian passport if they have a valid passport.”
FGM is illegal in all states and territories, as is removing someone from Australia for the purpose of having FGM carried out.
Bishop said it was vital that family members or friends who knew about such plans let authorities know.
“It’s the families that we need to hear from if there are such matters occurring,” she said.
"[Whether it’s] a girl leaving for overseas for this brutal, barbaric practice, or whether it’s people leaving for overseas to take up with terrorist organisations.”
A spokeswoman for Queensland’s community services and child protection minister, Tracy Davis, declined to comment, saying it was not within the minister’s portfolio. Asked which minister had responsibility for FGM cases, the spokeswoman referred Guardian Australia to the Queensland police.
Queensland police are not in charge of the investigation as it is a federal police matter.
The acting premier, Tim Nicholls, said it would be inappropriate to comment on a criminal investigation.
The federal minister assisting the prime minister for women, Michaelia Cash, did not say if she had been briefed on the AFP investigation but said FGM was an extremely harmful practice that violated the human rights of women and girls.
“There is no justification for this procedure which subjects girls and women to enormous pain and lasting health issues which can be fatal,” she said in a statement.
“Although many people now living in Australia come from cultures which practice FGM, it will not be tolerated here. In Australia, FGM is illegal.”