Jamie Bright was shot dead by an Islamic State fighter near the town of al-Shaddadi, in north-eastern Syria.
US special operations forces have been in this area for months, helping local Kurds and Arab opposition fighters beat the jihadists back towards their de facto capital, al-Raqqa. 
Bright, an Australian who was fighting with Kurds, was therefore effectively shoulder-to-shoulder with troops from our closest ally, and yet he could have been jailed for life under Australia's foreign incursions laws, which prohibit entering a foreign country to engage in hostilities unless it is with the armed forces of the country's government.
It is a contradiction that is coming under scrutiny as the Syrian civil war grinds on and cases such as Bright's come to attention. The next Parliament should review these laws to see how they can better distinguish between armed groups that threaten us and those that don't, and thereby better reflect Australia's values.
It is just wrong that someone such as Bright could have faced the same prosecution as IS supporters.
Our foreign policy often reflects our interests rather than our values, and while these would be the same in an ideal world, we all know this is not an ideal world. But absolute neutrality means we have no values at all.
Of course the government sees this, which is why prosecutions of Australians fighting with the Kurds are not being followed through. Attorney-General George Brandis - whose consent is needed for a prosecution under foreign incursions - has already knocked back charges against Melbourne man Jamie Reece Williams. That was the right thing to do.
The Foreign Incursions and Recruitment Act was passed in 1978 by the Fraser government in response to Croatians going to fight against the then Yugoslavian government.
The Abbott government shifted it into the Commonwealth Criminal Code - under the chapter dealing with the "security of the Commonwealth", the same chapter that covers terrorism - making it a de facto terrorism law, and upped the maximum penalty to life in jail.
If it's a step too far to give a free pass to people like Jamie Bright, the least the next Parliament could do is look for a way to separate out from the terrorism section of the Criminal Code the broad offence of fighting with armed groups abroad.
It would send a clear message that our laws do not treat people who fight with our allies the same as people who fight with terrorists.