Proposal to strip citizenship criticised by human rights groups and legal experts
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Version 0 of 1. The Abbott government is facing mounting concerns about the scope and legality of its proposed laws on stripping Australian citizenship after criticism by the Law Council, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Amnesty International, the Human Rights Commission and almost every media company in the country. Labor has given in principle support to the idea of extending current provisions to allow citizenship to be stripped from dual nationals who “take up arms against Australia”, but scores of organisations have criticised the proposed laws for going far beyond that aim, and for being potentially unconstitutional. When Labor raised concerns during the last parliament, Tony Abbott accused them of being “weak on terror” and of seeking to “roll out the red carpet for terrorists.” The government has said the laws are essential to “stop terrorists being loose on our streets”. Related: Foreign fighters need 'modern form of banishment' says Tony Abbott in Magna Carta lecture But over the parliamentary break scores of organisations have raised concerns about the laws. The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security will hear from many of the groups over the next two days. Related: Battle lines blurred in crackdown on foreign fighters' Australian citizenship The government had originally proposed that the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, would have discretion over the revocation of citizenship, but constitutional lawyers said this was almost certain to be struck down by the high court and it was also confirmed by a dramatic cabinet leak that many senior ministers had the same concern. Dutton introduced the changes to the Citizenship Act to the House of Representatives in June. The bill lists three ways in which dual nationals can automatically lose their Australian citizenship. First, a person renounces their citizenship “by conduct” if they engage in terrorist activity. Second, if they go overseas to fight for foreign armies deemed enemies of Australia, or listed terrorist organisations. Third, if they are convicted of terrorism offences or “certain other offences” by an Australian court. The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has said Labor supported “in principle” the idea of extending the revocation of citizenship to dual citizens who “take up arms against Australia”. |