Committee takes aim at voter rights, welfare
AAP
A powerful parliamentary committee is considering the possibility of taking away even more rights from ‘terrorists’, after a poll reveal huge support for tough new anti-terror measures.
In an exclusive, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday evening that 75 per cent of voters support the stripping of sole citizenship from terrorists, provided they are able to obtain citizenship in another country.
• This is a ‘bigger’ threat than terrorism
• Dual national terrorists to lose citizenship
• Citizenship debate splits Federal Cabinet
This was the finding of a Fairfax-Ipsos poll of 1402 voters conducted last week, which found support for the idea amongst the majority of both Coalition (89 per cent) and Labor (69 per cent) voters, with Greens voters almost evenly split (49 per cent support).
In response to the poll, the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security chair Dan Tehan said he and his fellow committee members will consider stripping voter rights and welfare payments.
“The Australian people view [terrorism] as treason,” he told Sky News on Tuesday morning.
“What the Australian people want to see us do is modernise our treason laws.”
A spokesperson for Mr Tehan confirmed to The New Daily that removing voter rights and welfare payments was a proposal “under consideration” by the committee.
The Coalition has already struck a deal with the Labor opposition to automatically revoke the citizenship of dual citizens who engage in certain terror-related activities.