David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Acting Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Attorney-General, Senator Brandis. Will the Attorney-General update the Senate on further measures the Australian government is proposing to keep Australians safe?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much indeed for that question, Senator Fawcett. Yes, I can advise the Senate about that. A little while ago, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and I announced some proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act which will be introduced by the minister in the House of Representatives tomorrow; and those amendments will then be referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for review over the winter recess and for report in the spring sittings of the parliament.

The new laws will strip citizenship from dual-national Australian citizens who serve or fight for terrorist groups or who engage in specified terrorism related conduct or who are convicted of specified terrorism related offences. The laws will only apply to dual citizens, so they cannot result in any solely Australian citizen being rendered stateless. The laws do not depend on the exercise of ministerial discretion; they operate according to the principles of renunciation by conduct whereby a person, by their own act of engaging in a specified terrorist activity, surrenders their citizenship of Australia, or upon the conviction of a person by a court for a specified terrorism related offence under the Criminal Code.

This is a matter of the greatest seriousness. This is the most serious matter that Australia faces. Whether it be under a coalition government or a Labor government, this is the most serious challenge we face, and we have to get it right. We have to have strong and effective laws, consistent with the rule of law, and that is what we announced a short while ago.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Could the Attorney-General inform the Senate why these measures are necessary?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can inform you, Senator, because, as I am sure you know, since September of last year, the Australian threat assessment level has been at 'high'. The definition of 'high' is that a terrorism event is assessed to be likely.

When the security agencies made that intelligence judgement in September of last year, concluding that they believed a terrorism event was likely, tragically, only three months later we saw the Martin Place siege and the loss of the lives of two Australians. It cannot be denied that the threat is real.

We know that today, approximately 120 Australians—about half of them dual citizens, to whom these laws will apply—are fighting on behalf of ISIL and other terrorism groups in the Middle East, and one of the purposes of these laws is to keep them out of this country.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Could the Attorney-General inform the Senate of any alternative policies?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I can inform Senator Fawcett of an alternative policy. I mentioned in answer to the last question that the government's policy is to keep terrorists out of our country.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left. Senator Conroy and Senator Carr.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian Labor Party's policy, as announced by the shadow Attorney-General last Thursday, is to bring them back. There could not be a clearer difference for the Australian people. The government led by Mr Abbott would keep terrorists out of our country. A Labor government led by Mr Bill Shorten, as we are told by the man who would be the Attorney-General in any such government, Mr Dreyfus, would bring them home. We do not agree with the Labor Party's policy of bringing the terrorists home. We are introducing these laws to keep them out.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on both sides.