ASIO warns of citizenship overreach
ASIO has warned that the Federal Government's push to strip terror suspects of citizenship could increase the global threat of terrorism.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) says the planned laws which target dual citizens linked to terrorism both in Australia and abroad might intensify other terror activities.
The agency has urged the Federal Government to use the powers sparingly.
“In a globally interconnected world, the location of an individual offshore as a result of citizenship cessation will not eliminate any direct threat they pose to Australian (or other) interests overseas,” an ASIO submission to Parliament's powerful intelligence and security committee said.
“It will not prevent their reach-back into Australia to inspire, encourage or direct onshore activities that are prejudicial to security — including onshore attacks.
“In some instances, citizenship cessation will curtail the range of threat mitigation capabilities available to Australian authorities.
“It may also have unintended or unforeseen adverse security outcomes — potentially including reducing one manifestation of the terrorist threat while exacerbating another.
“There may be occasions where the better security outcome would be that citizenship is retained, despite a person meeting the legislative criteria for citizenship cessation.
“For example, where the Australian Federal Police has criminal charges that could be pursued if the person were to remain an Australian citizen.”
The Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) has warned of major flaws, including the potential for them to make gathering evidence for later prosecutions more difficult.