Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Repudiation) Bill 2023

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree with the remaining stages of the bill and so pass the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a third time. Because the bill has already been passed in the House of Representatives, it will now become law.

What does this bill do?

According to the bills digest (which is a document prepared by the parliamentary library):

• The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 to repeal the current citizenship cessation provisions which were found to be invalid by the High Court of Australia in the matters of Alexander v Minister for Home Affairs and Benbrika v Minister for Home Affairs.

• The High Court held that these provisions were contrary to Chapter III of the Constitution which provides that the judicial power of the Commonwealth will be vested in the courts, as opposed to the executive branch of the Commonwealth.

• The Bill will introduce new provisions allowing the Minister to make an application to request that a court exercise its power to make an order to cease a dual citizen’s Australian citizenship, where the person has been convicted of a serious offence or offences.

• Provisions allowing for the termination of citizenship on terrorism-related grounds were first introduced by the Turnbull Government, with the support of the Opposition, by the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Act 2015. These provisions were controversial and resulted in an Australian dual citizen automatically ceasing to be an Australian citizen on the basis of certain conduct.

• In response to a review by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, the Morrison Government, with the support of the Opposition, passed the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Cessation) Act 2020. These amendments replaced the provisions in which Australian citizenship was automatically renounced on the basis of certain conduct, with a ministerial-decision model for citizenship cessation.

• Stakeholders have previously raised substantial concerns regarding citizenship revocation provisions, including that they are not effective in addressing national security concerns, may be contrary to Australia’s international law obligations and create a risk of rendering a person stateless.

• At the time of writing, the Opposition has supported the passage of the Bill through the House of Representatives but has moved amendments to the Bill in the Senate which seek to expand the scope of what is considered to be a serious offence.