Slain Kurdish fighter's mother speaks out against Australian government policy

The mother of gold-coast man confirmed dead last week fighting alongside Kurdish forces against Islamic State (IS), has spoken out against the Australian government's policy of locking up all returned fighters, no matter which side.

Reece Harding, 23, died in late June after stepping on a landmine while fighting with Kurdish forces against IS.

Local media reported on Monday Harding's mother Michele took to Facebook asking why the Australian government is so intent on imprisoning all returning fighters from the conflict.

"It is farcical to put the fighters of an evil regime in the same prisons as the people defending the freedom and rights of a persecuted nation like Kurdistan," Michele Harding wrote in a message posted on Facebook by Lions of Rojava, who support Kurdish efforts to defeat IS.

"The Kurdish people want the same as us to live in a safe society where their children can laugh and play outside like our Australian children take for granted."

Michelle Harding ends the message by saying the family now feels honored to consider themselves Australian Kurds.

Following Reece Harding's death, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said although there was a moral difference between the opposing forces, Australians must not head to Syria or Iraq and involve themselves in the conflict.

Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, warned it is illegal for any Australian to fight in the conflict on either side.

The former president of the Australian Northern Territory Labor Party, Matthew Gardiner, was detained in Darwin early April upon returning to Australia after helping Kurdish fighters against IS.

Gardiner, 43, previously served as an Australian Army combat engineer in Somalia in the early 1990s.

Australian authorities subsequently released Gardiner a short time later without charge.