Extremists could be stripped of their Australian citizenship and deported under a proposal being debated in federal government ranks.
Australian-born extremists could be stripped of their citizenship under radical changes being considered by the federal government.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is looking at ways to deport terrorists who are entitled to citizenship in another country.
“You can take citizenship away from somebody as long as you don’t render them stateless,” Mr Dutton told 2GB radio on Thursday.
“We’ve cancelled visas at a record rate so that we can kick criminals out of the country, and we should be cancelling citizenship of terrorists and people that would seek to do us harm, because we don’t want them here.”
The hardline plan faces clear constitutional risks, as it is illegal to illegal to render somebody stateless.
Some countries do not recognise dual nationalities, while others would automatically recognise citizenship when a person has been stripped of their Australian ties.
News Corp reports the majority of the 400 terrorists being monitored by ASIO are either dual citizens or could be dual citizens, based on the birthplaces of their parents or grandparents.
And yet, only six dual-national terrorists have been stripped of their Australian citizenship.
Liberal MP Jason Wood, who chairs a parliamentary committee on migration, is fed up.
“If you’ve put your hand up to say you uphold the rights and responsibility of Australian citizenship, but the next minute you want to talk jihad all day, it’s a breach of contract and you need to go,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
