【Tahong】

Most people would avoid travelling to the frontlines of the war against Islamic State in northern Iraq.

Not Australian former politician Wyatt Roy,Tahong 26, whose high-risk trip to the area has been criticised by politicians and the public alike, who've labelled it "stupid" and then some.

The conservative former MP told SBS Newsthat he had been caught up in a battle between Peshmerga and IS forces last Thursday in Domez, which is near the town of Sinjar and west of Islamic State-held Mosul.

Roy, British political consultant Samuel Coates and a translator were embroiled in the confrontation.

"The danger of a 50-cal bullet, or if they had bigger RPGs, or a mortar round hitting us was pretty serious so we had to stay where we were. Once they [the Peshmerga] had pushed them back, they were very adamant that we get in the car and drive as fast as we could in the other direction," Roy told the news outlet.

The fleeing group made their way back to the town of Sinjar, where the Peshmerga shortly called in an airstrike to end the battle. Five IS fighters were killed.

Roy, who was the youngest person ever to be elected to parliament says he made the trip because he "wanted to visit and see for myself, in a way that I really couldn’t have done as a member of parliament."

Australian laws allow the government to prosecute people who make the trip to areas controlled by IS.

"We are talking about a war zone. This is not a Contiki tour," Labor defence spokesman Richard Marles told Channel Nine. Similarly, Labor senator Penny Wong said in a statement that "war zones are not places for people to act out their boyhood fantasies."

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"It was very stupid, and I'm disappointed in Wyatt," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told 3AWon Friday. "The next time I speak to Wyatt I will be giving him some very sage and stern advice."

There's also a plethora of social media ridicule that have come about thanks to Roy's surprise trip. He's been a bad, bad boy.

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