Australian parliament passes anti-terrorism law to strip citizenship
Australia’s parliament has passed legislation to strip dual nationals of their citizenship if they are convicted of terrorism offences or found to have fought with banned groups overseas. According to the Attorney-General George Brandis the law has been updated to reflect “the new age of terrorism”. He also added that the amendments to the law were necessary in the wake of imminent threats of terrorism in Australia and to prevent the dual nationals engaged in such acts to return to Australia and to permanently remove them where possible. However the new law will be applied in a very restrictive manner which will not render individuals homeless.
They cover people who engage in terrorist acts, including training, recruitment and finance, and are convicted of a terrorist offence and sentenced to at least six years in jail. Those who fight for a declared terrorist group also automatically lose their citizenship. It was further explained that such people will be placed into the hands of the government of the other nation of which they are dual citizens. It will be the responsibility of that respective government to deal with them and to take whatever action, according to its domestic law, it seems appropriate.
