The citizenship law came under close scrutiny in January after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton announced renowned Islamic State member Neil Prakash had been stripped of his Australian citizenship because he was also Fijian,only to have the Fijian government insist Prakash was not.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"In some instances,citizenship cessation will curtail the range of threat mitigation capabilities available to Australian authorities,"the intelligence agency told a Senate committee investigating the legislation.
"It may also have unintended or unforeseen adverse security outcomes – potentially including reducing one manifestation of the terrorist threat while exacerbating another."
ASIO called for an alternative model for citizenship cessation where each case was looked at individually,"including having regard to whether ceasing an individual's Australian citizenship would reduce the threat and protect Australia and its interests from that harm".
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Under the current law,terrorists can be stripped of their citizenship only if they are a dual national and therefore would not be rendered stateless. They must also have been convicted of a terrorism-related crime and have received a jail sentence of at least six years.
The proposedchanges mean the home affairs minister need only be"satisfied"that the person is not going to be rendered stateless – a lower threshold of certainty.
The existing citizenship law came under close scrutiny in January after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton announced renowned Islamic State member Neil Prakash had been stripped of his Australian citizenship because he was also Fijian,only to have theFijian government insist Prakash was not.