Australia to revoke citizenship from people who engage with terrorists

Civil rights advocates and Muslim leaders in Australia have widely denounced new legislation that calls for dual nationals who are convicted of terrorism-related offenses to be stripped of their Australian citizenship. The legislation is designed to staunch the flow of Australians going to the Middle East to join groups like Islamic State, and to help prevent domestic terror attacks like the hostage crisis in Sydney last December that left three people dead. The Australian Parliament has passed a raft of anti-terrorism laws in the past 12 months that grant law enforcement agencies new sweeping powers.

If enacted, our legislation will be as tough as exists in any equivalent Western nation in dealing with citizenship and terrorism.

Peter Jennings, Executive Director of Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The government estimates that just over half of the approximately 120 Australians who have travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight for IS are dual citizens. Under the proposed laws, Australian citizenship would be automatically forfeited if a person was convicted of a terrorist act by an Australian court or found to be engaged in terrorist activity at home or abroad. But with many Australians considering citizenship a fundamental right, the legislation introduced to Parliament is among the most controversial anti-terrorism measures yet. Civil rights groups have raised concerns about its scope and constitutionality, while Muslim leaders have accused the government of singling out their community.

To be under the threat of deportation for an action for which due restitution has already been made seems quite Orwellian.

Australian resident Gareth Smith who was convicted in 2000 of damaging Commonwealth property - he says he has already paid for his crime.

Politics Tony Abbott terrorism