Public servants will decide on loss of citizenship, inquiry

Under extensive questioning by Labor MPs in the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, Mr Pezzullo said public servants and officials – probably intelligence officers, police and bureaucrats – would prepare a brief of advice for the minister if they believed a person's terrorism activities cross the threshold for loss of citizenship.

The minister would then issue a notification of the citizenship loss, at which point it would take practical effect, such as having the person's passport revoked, being taken off the electoral roll and losing welfare rights.

Asked by shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus whether the entire process would be "in secret", Mr Pezzullo said: "I think it would all be done in secret, Mr Dreyfus ... We would do it confidentially, yes."

Technically under the legislation, the person "renounces" their own citizenship as soon as they carry out certain terrorist activities. But this takes practical effect only when the minister issues the notice of the renunciation.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has described this process as "a legal fiction".

The legislation was structured this way to avoid giving the discretionary power to the minister to strip people's citizenship, which experts widely agreed would be unconstitutional.

But Labor MPs – whose support will ultimately be needed to pass the new legislation – expressed concern in the inquiry that this meant the decision would instead be taken by officials.