Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has said the Government should review the Australia citizenship pathway, in the wake of last week’s attack in Melbourne.
“We should look at the way in which people are on a pathway to citizenship. I have been very open about the cancellation of visas. The numbers have ramped up because there are some people who shouldn’t go on to become Australian citizens,” Mr Dutton said on Sunday.
“The law applies very differently to somebody who has Australian citizenship either by conferral or by birth as opposed to somebody who is here on a temporary status because they are a holder of a particular visa category,” he added.
On Friday, 30-year-old Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was shot dead after setting fire to his ute that contained gas bottles, in Melbourne's CBD and stabbed a local restaurant owner to death. The incident was declared a terrorist attack.
Mr Dutton said there are lessons to be learnt from the incident and the government is looking to tighten up the laws. But he said the Government’s attempts at passing those laws have been unsuccessful.
“There are a couple of important Bills around citizenship where we have been knocked back,” Mr Dutton told Sunrise program on Monday.
“There are different ways in which we can tighten the laws up and we are looking at them right now. But again we need to get it through the Senate but so far we haven’t been able to get the support of Labor or the Greens which we need in the Senate to make it work,” he said.
The Government’s proposed citizenship Bill that included a stand-alone English language test, enhanced general residence requirement, Australian values test and enhanced powers to the Immigration minister in matters of citizenship was removed from the Senate notice paper in October last year due to a combined opposition by Labor, the Greens and some crossbench senators.
The Government hasn’t brought back the Bill to Parliament despite its intention of having it passed during the spring sitting.
Mr Dutton, in his media conference on Sunday, also called on the Federal opposition to support the Government’s legislation that would allow agencies access encrypted messaging services.
