Officials from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s department have declined to confirm basic details about the return of wives and children of Islamic State fighters to Australia from Syria, prompting accusations of a cover-up from the federal opposition.

It was revealed last week that a group of six women and children had smuggled themselves out of Syria and returned to Australia despite Albanese denying earlier reports that a cohort was set to return home by the end of the year.

The women were wives of men who travelled to Syria to fight for the Islamic State when the radical jihadist group was trying to establish a hardline Sunni caliphate across the Middle East.

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet officials told Senate estimates hearings it would be a breach of privacy to det

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