Islamic State recruitment in Australia

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Rodney
The Australian Govt is now turning Christmas Island into a maximum security prison for criminals and sex offenders , already they have sent seven rapists and criminal illegals who arrived by boat there, a Srilankan who followed a blind girl out of a train station and attacked her I hope is one, another crept into a university dorm and attacked another is maybe another, both had only been here a few months. I don't know if the Govt intends to send the same type of Australian criminals as well, it would be a good idea, no way for the family to smuggle drugs in.
Cheers Des

[Ivan Cloherty]

HI Rodney
The Australian Govt is now turning Christmas Island into a maximum security prison for criminals and sex offenders , already they have sent seven rapists and criminal illegals who arrived by boat there, a Srilankan who followed a blind girl out of a train station and attacked her I hope is one, another crept into a university dorm and attacked another is maybe another, both had only been here a few months. I don't know if the Govt intends to send the same type of Australian criminals as well, it would be a good idea, no way for the family to smuggle drugs in.
Cheers Des

Brings a whole new meaning to 'Celebrating Christmas'

[j.sabourn]

Or like that song Ivan, "I'm walking backwards to Christmas across the Irish Sea".

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Ivan
They now say that it will be Australia's Alcatraz members of criminal biker gangs may be sent there, what a thought Bikers and pedophiles all on the one Island that will be a sight to see.
Cheers Des

[j.sabourn]

#24... That will certainly lower the tone of the neighbourhood Des. Wonder if the Residents have any say in the matter, will put them off their drinks in the Casino there wondering about any escape bids, mind if any do they will probably keep clear of Australia and claim political Asylum in Indonesia for a change. Cheers JWS

[Rodney Mills]

Today June 2, 2015 on BBC

Australia plans to revoke citizenship from dual nationals suspected but not convicted of terrorism
It is a club where membership is a "privilege that offers enormous rewards", but Australia is planning to strip membership from alleged terrorists who hold dual nationality.

New legislation proposed by Australia's Coalition government, expected to be introduced within weeks, will enable the government to remove Australian citizenship from dual nationals who take up arms or support militant groups at home or overseas.

More than 100 Australians are thought to be fighting with Islamic State and other extremists in Iraq and Syria, and the government in Canberra estimates that up to half are dual citizens.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists tough measures are needed to protect the country from those who are trying "to destroy us".

Mr Abbott has also suggested that some sole Australian nationals involved in terrorism could lose their citizenship.

That controversial proposal would allow the country's immigration minister to strip citizenship from second-generation migrants if they could be eligible for passports from another country.

The idea is part of a broader official discussion paper that has raised the ire of some senior cabinet ministers reportedly worried about how sole citizens will be affected, even though that could include one of Australia's most wanted men, Khaled Sharrouf.

Sharrouf, a petty Sydney criminal with Lebanese heritage, dragged his family into the war in Syria in 2013.

Ten years ago, Sharrouf was jailed for his part in one of the biggest terrorism conspiracies Australia has ever seen, but a spell in prison did nothing to quell his radicalism.

Last year, he posted a photograph on social media of his seven-year-old son holding up a severed head in Syria.

There are now reports his ******-convert wife, Tara Nettleton, wants to flee Syria and bring her five children back to Australia.

Jihadist poster boy

So how might Mr Abbott's passport purge apply to this family?

"Khaled Sharrouf is the poster boy for the bad jihadi," explains Prof Greg Barton, an expert in international relations and politics at Monash University.

"When you think of people you would want to deny citizenship and not come back to Australia then he fits the bill perfectly," says Prof Barton.

"There are, no doubt, some people we would be glad not to see come back and it might be useful in some of those cases to not have to deal with them in the Australian court system and our prisons, but it is not a silver bullet," he says.

Tara Nettleton could face serious charges of supporting terrorism if she returns home, but Prof Barton told the BBC that although she might lose her liberty, it was unlikely she would become a persona non grata in her own country.

"If she were to come back she would certainly face prosecution and time in jail," he says.

"I don't think in her case there would be any easy or justifiable way of revoking her Australian citizenship."

It is understood that Ms Nettleton has sole Australia citizenship, so revoking those rights would render her stateless, which is prohibited by international law because it would leave her with nowhere to go.

Then there is the vexed question of her children.

Dr Clark Jones, a visiting fellow at Canberra's Australian National University specialising in radicalisation and terrorism, believes the children should not be punished for the sins of their parents.

Children's safety

"My primary concern is for the kids," Dr Jones told the BBC.

"They need to be taken out of this conflict zone and I'm particularly concerned for their safety," he says.

"Those kids have gone through all sorts of hardship and quite likely could be facing mental health issues.

"We need to get them back into Australia as quickly as possible and if we withdraw citizenship then the chances of them being able to return becomes more and more unlikely."

Under current legislation, dual nationals can lose their Australian citizenship if they fight for another country that is at war with Australia.

The forfeit is automatic, and there is no provision for ministerial intervention, as there would be under the proposed changes, which would mirror elements adopted in the UK.

Research fellow at the University of New South Wales, Sangeetha Pillai, says it seems more in line with the broad discretion that the UK Home Secretary has "than the more curtailed executive discretion in other countries such as Canada or France where an actual finding of criminal guilt is necessary before citizenship stripping becomes a possibility".

Minister's discretion

"While the trigger for losing citizenship will be the commission of an offence, that won't need to be proved in a court to a criminal standard," she says.

"It will be to the immigration minister's satisfaction, and that is quite concerning to me," she says.

There is unease, too, in Australia's ****** community.

Kuranda Seyit, the secretary of the Islamic Council of Victoria, says the targets of the new laws would invariably be ******s.

"It will cause more division in our community," Mr Seyit says.

"The ****** community is under pressure. It already feels isolated and it is going to be further isolated by these Draconian measures."


I agree totally with the above article. In the U.S. it is a long drawn out affair to strip some one of their citizenship. I know/read of a Hungarian/U.S. naturalized citizen who was convicted and found guilty of being a Nazi camp guard, stripped of his citizenship for lying on has application form re. citizenship. However, he had to be found guilty first.

In my opinion dual citizenship should not be allowed. You want Australian, N.Z, Canada, U.S.A. citizenship then it should be all or nothing. When I emigrated to Canada it was my intention to become a Canadian, however, before I took out my application to apply, I thought I might prefer the U.S.A.. Just like my joining the M.N. which I did in my sixteenth birthday, I applied for my citizenship on the first day I could.

I also disagree that in the States you can stay for as long as you like on a green card, and the only difference between me as an American vs. staying British is I can vote, as a Brit. I could do everything else. I think that's wrong. If I couldn't make up my mind to take out citizenship in say seven years, then I should surrender my green card and out I go. In my opinion, I would be taking a job away from an American.

Rodney