Labor appears to be cooling on plans to give ministerial discretion to strip dual nationals accused of terrorism of their Australian citizenship, as a senior Liberal frontbencher refuses to back the measure.
The leader of the House of Representatives, Christopher Pyne, told Andrew Bolt that legislation to strip dual nationals of their citizenship would be introduced in the next fortnight, the last time parliament sits before the winter recess.
But he would not be drawn on whether he supported one of the most controversial elements of the legislation – giving the immigration minister power to revoke nationality when the person in question had not been convicted of a crime.
“This is a matter for national discussion,” Pyne told Bolt on Channel Ten on Sunday.
Pyne was one of the five frontbenchers who reportedly raised concerns in cabinet on the ministerial oversight provision.
“As a member of the cabinet, it would be unwise of me to pre-empt the final decision of the cabinet,” Pyne said. “So I will continue to keep my counsel within the cabinet and hope that it doesn’t leak into the newspapers.”
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has offered in-principle support for the proposal to strip dual citizens of their Australian nationality.
But Labor’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, has publicly expressed concerns over the ministerial oversight provision, following criticism of the policy by the former independent national security legislation monitor.
“Bret Walker, who authored the report, the basis upon which these recommendations are meant to come, makes the point he always thought this should not happen unless there was a conviction recorded,” Marles told ABC TV on Sunday. “That implies a full court process. I’ve got to say, to me, that’s what makes sense.”
Walker told the Australian newspaper that granting ministerial discretion with minimal judicial oversight was a misreading of his recommendations.
Marles labelled the legislation “a dog’s breakfast”.
“What we are seeing is the government really squabbling over what is such an important and profound piece of legislation for our country, like kids in a schoolyard.”
Shorten told reporters on Sunday the government’s citizenship laws were “rapidly descending into a farce”, and called on it to urgently release the text of the legislation so Labor could scrutinise it.
Pyne conceded the legislation would need to pass the hurdle of the high court before coming into force.
“We believe that the legislation that we will be introducing in the next fortnight to strip dual citizens who are foreign fighters of their Australian citizenship mitigates that risk as far as humanly possible,” Pyne said. “In the end, that will be a matter for the high court to decide, should it be litigated in the high court.”
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, dismissed concerns over possible constitutional challenges to the proposal.
“We are confident, based on the advice that we got, that the legislation minimises constitutional risk. You can never stop people bringing court actions but we are as confident as you can be,” he told reporters in Canberra.
