Bipartisan support offered on ‘urgent’ terror suspect law push

Liberal leader Peter Dutton commits to supporting ‘any sensible proposal’ put forward by Labor to prevent suspected terrorists from returning to Australia.

The High Court has ruled in favour of Delil Alexander, a dual Australian-Turkish citizen suspected of travelling to Syria to fight with Islamic State, reinstating his citizenship. Picture: Scott Hornby

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has committed to supporting “any sensible proposal” put forward by Labor to prevent suspected terrorists from returning to Australia, after the High Court struck down a key pillar of the Morrison government’s foreign fighter laws as unconstitutional.

The High Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of Delil Alexander, a dual Australian-Turkish citizen suspected of travelling to Syria to fight with Islamic State, reinstating his citizenship after it was cancelled by then home affairs minister Karen Andrews last year. A majority of the court held that s.36B of the Citizenship Act was invalid on the basis it gave the home affairs minister the exclusively judicial function of judging and punishing criminal guilt.

Mr Dutton called on the Albanese government to move quickly to find a solution, saying he would offer bipartisan support for the early resumption of parliament and “do whatever we can to support the government to pass legislation”. He urged Attorney-­General Mark Dreyfus to “look at ways in which you can legislate to within the constitutional restrictions obviously and … and tell us what is available to them by way of legislation and tighten it up as best you can”.

“The government needs to take the advice, to look at the judgment, and to work out what the legislative response needs to be,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.

“And this needs to happen as a matter of urgency because we don’t want these people paroled and back out on the street and having the opportunity to commit a terrorist offence.”

As home affairs minister, Mr Dutton was one of the chief proponents of the failed legislation, which many constitutional lawyers had predicted would not survive a High Court challenge.

Mr Dreyfus, then in opposition, had questioned whether the commonwealth had the power to cancel Australian citizenship.

The government is “considering the implications of the judgment”, which may apply in principle to many other Australian citizens suspected of or convicted of terrorist offences who have had their citizenship revoked, including Melbourne-born terrorist and Islamic State recruiter Neil Prakash.

Mr Dreyfus said there was no threat to Australia as a result of the High Court ruling, citing other potential powers to exclude from Australia citizens suspected of offences including Temporary Exclusion Orders, which can prohibit an individual returning to Australia for up to two years.

Alexander, born in Australia to Turkish parents, left Australia in 2013 at age 26, travelling to Syria where, according to assessments by ASIO, he joined Islamic State. He is believed to be in the notorious Branch 235 prison in Damascus, a torture centre operated by Syrian intelligence.

Alexander’s family has not been able to contact him since his incarceration in Branch 235, so the case was brought on his behalf by his sister, Berivan.

His lawyer, Osman Samin, has written to the Home Affairs Minister asking for consular assistance to be provided to Alexander to ­facilitate his “immediate return to Australia”.