Short Essay Question
Read the following news report. Assuming that the proposal goes ahead, critically examine the implications of this proposal for rule of law in Australia.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/terrorists-to-lose-citizenship-as- abbottera-laws-go-ahead-20151110-gkvh9v.html
Terrorists to lose citizenship as Abbott-era laws go ahead, The Sydney Morning Herald, by David Wroe
Laws to strip dual national terrorists of their Australian citizenship are set to pass Parliament as soon as this week after the Turnbull government agreed to make changes recommended by a cross-party committee of MPs.
The Coalition's joint-party meeting on Tuesday backed the new laws, which will strip the citizenship of terrorists who are either already overseas or are in Australia and have been convicted of certain terrorism crimes.
Controversially, some aspects of the laws will be retrospective to ensure they cover a handful of existing prisoners who were convicted and jailed for serious terrorism offences over the past decade.
Laws to strip dual national terrorists of their Australian citizenship are set to pass Parliament as soon as this week.
Laws to strip dual national terrorists of their Australian citizenship are set to pass Parliament as soon as this week. Photo: Ross Duncan
The high-powered Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which includes senior Labor figures, recommended 26 changes to the original legislation proposed by the former Abbott government. Cabinet signed off on those changes, as well as two additional amendments, on Monday night.
Under the laws, a dual national automatically renounces their Australian citizenship if they engage in terrorist conduct - an extension of an existing law that does the same for someone who fights with a foreign military against Australia.
Dual nationals can also lose their citizenship if they are convicted of a terrorism offence. This part of the law will operate retrospectively, going back 10 years from when the bill becomes law.
This is understood to affect only a handful of prisoners including the notorious terrorists Abdul Nacer Benbrika and Mohamed Ali Elomar, who are now in prison.
The laws were conceived while Tony Abbott was prime minister but also have the support of Malcolm Turnbull.
The committee's changes have tightened the legislation significantly to exclude people who are still in Australia but have not been convicted of any terrorism offence.
The committee, which is chaired by Victorian Liberal Dan Tehan, also knocked out several relatively minor offences that could have led to a loss of citizenship, including "damaging or destroying Commonwealth property" and "unlawful drilling".
The government has added two amendments of its own. One change means that a terrorist who has not been convicted has to have had "intent" when they carried out terrorism acts. The other means that a person can lose their citizenship for a range of offences included in the government's "foreign fighters" legislation, which was passed last year.
The parliamentary committee heard extensive evidence from experts raising questions about who would decide that a person was a terrorist and how.
These decisions will be made by intelligence agencies, police and bureaucrats.
While Labor will need to see the final wording of the laws, the fact the government has accepted the bipartisan committee's recommendations means the opposition is likely to support the bill.
Separately, the government is expected to introduce to Parliament its fifth set of counter- terrorism laws, which will lower the age at which bail-like conditions called control orders can be applied from 16 to 14. It will also introduce a new offence of "advocacy of genocide".