Letter
The state with power to grant citizenship
Peter Hughes’ article warns, cogently, against Dutton’s thought bubble about giving ministers power to strip Australian citizenship from criminal dual nationals who have served their time.
One aspect of citizenship law that Hughes only alludes to is the fact that a person’s right to citizenship is determined solely by the country granting citizenship.
Consequently, a minister deciding to remove the citizenship of a dual national cannot be sure the person actually remains a dual national.
It is quite possible the other country has already taken its citizenship from the person. In that event, the minister would be infringing international law which abhors the idea of statelessness.
— Paul Fergus from Croydon NSW