Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the committee's advisory report, incorporating a dissenting report, on the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Strengthening the Citizenship Loss Provisions) Bill 2018.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I am pleased to present the committee's advisory report on the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Strengthening the Citizenship Loss Provisions) Bill 2018. The bill proposes to amend section 35A—conviction for terrorism offences and certain other offences—of the act. Clause 1 of the bill proposes repealing existing subsection 35A(1) of the act and replacing it with a new subsection 35A(1).

While the proposed provisions largely mirror those in the current subsection 35A(1), the bill makes three major changes. First, the person's citizenship may be revoked if they are convicted of associating with a terrorist organisation under section 102.8 of the Criminal Code and other conditions are satisfied. Second, a person's citizenship may be revoked if the minister is satisfied that the person would not, if the minister were to determine that the person ceases to be an Australian citizen, become a person who is not a national or a citizen of any country. Third, a person convicted of a specified terrorism offence need no longer to have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least six years or to periods of imprisonments that total at least six years, as required under current section 35A(1). No minimum sentence is required in the legislation in order for someone convicted of a relevant offence to have their citizenship revoked. This provision would apply retrospectively to all individuals who have been convicted of a specified terrorism offence from 12 December 2005.

In its submission to the committee, the Department of Home Affairs noted the changes in the threat environment that necessitates the passing of this bill. The department stated:

At the time section 35A (along with sections 33AA and 35) was inserted into the Citizenship Act, the threat environment was largely characterised by the danger posed to Australia and its interests by foreign fighters, including those who sought to return to Australia after travelling to the conflict zone …

The number of Australians (and other foreign terrorist fighters) attempting to travel to the conflict zone has reduced considerably with the collapse of the self-declared caliphate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). However, the violent ideology of Sunni Islamist terrorist groups, such as ISIL and al-Qa'ida, continues to appeal to a small number of people in Australia, and security and law enforcement agencies remain focused on stopping a terrorist attack in Australia.

  …   …   …

As at 3 January 2019, 58 individuals have been convicted and sentenced for Commonwealth terrorism offences in Australia since 2001. Forty-six of these individuals (just over 80% of the cohort) were sentenced in the last three years, after the commencement of the provisions in the Allegiance to Australia Bill from 12 December 2015.

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As at 3 January 2019, while 12 individuals offshore have ceased to be Australian citizens as a result of terrorism-related conduct, no individuals have had their Australian citizenship ceased under section 35A of the Citizenship Act.

To ensure that this committee will have the opportunity to review the effect of these changes, it has recommended:

… section 29(1)(ca) of the Intelligence Services Act 2001, be amended so to require that the Committee review the operation, effectiveness and implications of sections 33AA, 35, 35AA and 35A of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 and any other provision of that Act as far as it relates to those sections, by 1 December 2020.

The act currently requires the committee to report by 1 December 2019. Increasing the time frame in which the committee will report this amendment to the Intelligence Services Act will allow time for the new citizenship loss provisions to take effect. The committee is satisfied with the provisions contained in the bill and recommends that the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Strengthening the Citizenship Loss Provisions) Bill 2018 be passed.

In closing, I want to make a note on bipartisanship. This committee over the past few years, particularly the last two years while I have been chair, has approached the task of legislative review in a spirit of bipartisanship. This iterative process leads to stronger legislation. However, this parliament is democratic. It's where we fight over ideas and our principles, and we won't always agree. In this case, we don't agree. That's okay. This is Australian democracy. I want to particularly thank the deputy chair, the member for Holt, for his support in this process, as well as the member for Eden-Monaro and the member for Isaacs, who's been a good sparring partner!

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