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Western Sydney won't be a "dumping ground" for a group of wives and children of Islamic State fighters but questions remain on their final destination.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil on Friday met face to face with three western Sydney mayors concerned about their residents, including Syrian and Iraqi refugees, being saddled with former ISIS affiliates.

While scant on detail due to national security concerns, Ms O'Neil said there was "a lot of misinformation" about where IS family members were being resettled, suggesting not exclusively in western Sydney.

"The people are coming back to where they left from," she told reporters.

"We have thought about this very carefully. We have worked on this matter over a number of months."

The federal government last month repatriated four Australian women and 13 children stranded in Syria's al-Roj refugee camp since the defeat of ISIS.

Ms O'Neil declined to comment on their condition or the cost of monitoring, which would be covered by existing ASIO and federal police funds.

Cabinet colleague Chris Bowen, whose electorate of McMahon covers some of the mayors' local government areas, defended the government's stance as more transparent than the previous administration.

Mr Bowen said he only learned this year a similar resettlement had occurred in 2019 under the Morrison government.

"I was utterly kept in the dark. The mayors were utterly kept in the dark. The community did not know."

"As opposed to that veil of secrecy ... this minister within (privacy and security constraints) has been more transparent than any minister in the last 10 years."

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone said the discussion with Ms O'Neill was open and honest.

"Hopefully they've learnt a lot about ... the concerns we have here in this region," he told reporters.

"The minister took on board ... that the real victims are the refugees, those people who actually fled ISIS."

No repatriations were occurring in Fairfield, he said.

"It's clear to me after this discussion western Sydney will not be used as a dumping ground."

"If the families (of the returnees) are in Melbourne, they will be repatriated in Melbourne. They will be repatriated in Perth and Queensland (if that's where they travelled from)."

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said the security briefing also attended by ASIO agents didn't paint a complete picture.

"Whilst we have had questions answered, there are a lot more questions because of it," he told AAP.

Cr Mannoun said the government should be addressing as a matter of urgency the issue of Australian citizens locked up by Syria.

He said in some cases authorities had "intelligence" but not necessarily "evidence" the person had committed a crime, meaning if they were to be released they could freely return to Australia.

"We could know they committed crimes over there but if we don't have evidence, we can' trial them through the legal system," he told 2GB.

Friday's meeting came after the mayors told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of their concerns.

Their resettlement has raised fears refugee communities, such as Yazidis and Assyrians who were targeted by ISIS, could be re-traumatised.

Cr Mannoun said many recently arrived refugees from Iraq and Syria had fled the ISIS militia.

Earlier this week, Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw confirmed investigations were underway into whether the returned wives had broken laws on travelling to war zones, including to Syria.

ISIS was ousted in 2019 from the last of the territory it held across Syria and Iraq. At its peak, the group controlled large swathes of both countries.

The violent movement attracted thousands of foreign fighters, including Australian citizens.

© AAP 2022

Scott Morrison's decision to secretly take on extra ministerial portfolios has been labelled as corrosive of trust in government.

A report by former High Court judge Virginia Bell into the multiple ministries found the secrecy surrounding the appointments he took on as prime minister was "apt to undermine public confidence in government".

"Once the appointments became known, the secrecy with which they had been surrounded was corrosive of trust in government," the report said.

"Given the parliament was not informed of any of the appointments, it was unable to hold Mr Morrison to account in his capacity as minister administering any of these five departments."

Mr Morrison appointed himself minister of health, finance, industry, science, energy and resources, treasury and home affairs without the knowledge of most of the designated ministers.

It was also revealed in the report on Friday he sought advice on appointing himself to the agriculture, water and environment portfolio but did not proceed with it.

While the former prime minister said he took on the health and finance roles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Bell said this was unnecessary.

The report said while then-health minister Greg Hunt was told of Mr Morrison's moves, the federal health department was not.

It said Mr Morrison could have authorised himself to act as health or finance minister "in minutes", were the ministers to have been incapacitated due to COVID-19 in early 2020.

Ms Bell said Mr Morrison's other three ministries were in a "different category".

"These appointments had little, if any connection to the pandemic," she said.

"Rather, Mr Morrison was appointed to administer these departments to give himself the capacity to exercise particular statutory powers."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose cabinet is set to approve transparency measures on Monday, said the previous government had operated in a "cult of secrecy".

"(The secret ministries) were unprecedented and they were wrong. However, members of the former government and current opposition enabled this culture of secrecy," he told reporters in Canberra.

"That is the characteristic of the Morrison government. After nine years of chaos, a dysfunctional government has now been replaced by a dysfunctional opposition."

While he did not say whether Mr Morrison should resign his Sydney seat of Cook, the prime minister said his predecessor had misled parliament.

In a statement, Mr Morrison said he had carried out his responsibilities as prime minister in the national interest.

"These decisions were taken during an extremely challenging period, where there was a need for considerable urgency," Mr Morrison said.

"Criticisms of my decisions have been made after the event and with the benefit of this perspective."

Mr Morrison said he would continue to serve in federal parliament, noting he was "pleased" the inquiry - which he engaged in via lawyers - had concluded.

Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser said the opposition had noted the findings laid out in the report.

"The report ... makes a number of sensible recommendations for improving the clarity and transparency of ministerial appointments," he said,

"The opposition will consider any proposed legislation flowing from the report through its usual processes when it is presented to the parliament."

Ms Bell recommended six changes to be made including legislation requiring public notifications of the appointment of ministers.

She also recommended publishing details of which ministers were appointed to administer departments and outlining different responsibilities when more than one was appointed to the same department.

Mr Albanese said he would take action to ensure "this breach of trust will never happen again".

The report confirmed Mr Morrison had only used his extra ministerial powers to veto the PEP11 resource exploration project off the NSW coast.

Ms Bell also took aim at Mr Morrison's decision not to tell ministers of his appointment to their portfolios.

"It is difficult to reconcile Mr Morrison's choice not to inform his ministers of the appointments out of his wish not to be thought to be second guessing them," the report said.

© AAP 2022

A group of wives and children of Islamic State fighters won't necessarily all end up in western Sydney but the government won't reveal exact locations, citing national security concerns.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil on Friday met face to face with three western Sydney mayors concerned their areas were being treated as a "dumping ground" for the former ISIS affiliates.

While scant on details due to national security concerns, Ms O'Neil said there was quite "a lot of misinformation" about where members of the group were being resettled.

"The people are coming back to where they left from," Ms O'Neil told reporters on Friday.

"We have thought about this very carefully. We have worked on this matter over a number of months."

Cabinet colleague Chris Bowen, whose federal electorate of McMahon covers some of the mayors' local government areas, defended the government's actions.

He said he only learned this year a similar resettlement had occurred in 2019 under Scott Morrison's Liberal-National government.

"I was utterly kept in the dark. The mayors were utterly kept in the dark. The community did not know," Mr Bowen said.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun, Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone and Campbelltown Mayor George Greiss received a security briefing from Ms O'Neil and ASIO agents regarding the returnees on Friday.

"There's no doubt it was an open and honest discussion," Cr Carbone said.

"Hopefully they've learnt a lot about ... the concerns we have here in this region.

"The minister took on board ... that the real victims are the refugees, those people who actually fled ISIS."

The federal government last month repatriated four Australian women and 13 children stranded in Syria's al-Roj refugee camp since the defeat of ISIS.

None were being resettled in Fairfield, Cr Carbone said.

"It's clear to me after this discussion that western Sydney will not be used as a dumping ground," he added.

"If the families (of the returnees) are in Melbourne, they will be repatriated in Melbourne. They will be repatriated in Perth and Queensland (if that's where they travelled from)."

The talks on Friday come after the mayors told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese there were community concerns about the returnees.

Their resettlement has raised fears that refugee communities in the area, such as Yazidis and Assyrians who were targeted by ISIS, could be re-traumatised.

Cr Mannoun said many recently arrived refugees from Iraq and Syria had fled the ISIS militia.

"You would not put a victim of a crime next to the perpetrator or the person who is an accessory to the perpetrator," Cr Mannoun told AAP ahead of the meeting.

Labor minister Jason Clare echoed Mr Bowen's remarks, saying earlier that the former coalition government had also repatriated people from the camps to his Blaxland electorate, also in Sydney's west.

Earlier this week, Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw confirmed investigations were underway into whether the returned wives had broken laws on travelling to war zones, including to Syria.

The women had co-operated with police, he said.

ISIS was ousted in 2019 from the last of the territory it held across Syria and Iraq. At its peak in 2014, the group controlled large swathes of both countries.

The violent movement attracted thousands of foreign fighters, including Australian citizens, around 50 of whom were killed in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

© AAP 2022