Peter Dutton prepared to ask Australians to give government power to deport dual citizen criminals

Peter Dutton is prepared to ask Australians to give the government powers to deport dual citizens found guilty of serious crimes such as terrorism, as the Opposition Leader seeks to regain lost ground ahead of the looming election.

Mr Dutton says all options should be on the table, including a referendum to give ministers expanded deportation powers, to keep Australians safe. Immigration and political experts say this is a carefully calibrated move to both return political debate to national security and appeal to the Coalition’s right flank.

Having routinely criticised the Albanese Government for spending $450 million on the failed Voice to Parliament referendum, Mr Dutton said he “didn’t think you could put a price” on keeping the community safe as he suggested the Constitution is too restrictive.

“I want to keep our country safe… At the moment we’ve got people in our country who hate our country, who want to cause terrorist attacks. My argument is that if you betray your allegiance to our country in that way, you should expect to lose your citizenship,” he told Channel 7.

In a later press conference, he accused Labor of “dropping the ball” on cancelling visas and said the Coalition would do “everything within the law” to keep Australians safe.

Such a referendum would seek to challenge a 2022 High Court ruling where it was determined unconstitutional for ministers to strip citizenship from dual nationals, because only judges had that power.

On Tuesday, Mr Dutton suggested the Constitution was too restrictive, and he wanted a discussion about whether the laws were adequate because “I want to keep our country safe and our communities safe”.

“We can do as much as we can by legislation but, as they say, you can’t out-legislate the Constitution,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to blast the idea as a “thought bubble”.

Former senior immigration official Abul Rizvi said if the public were asked whether politicians should have the power to strip citizenship instead of judges, “most people would think: We trust the judges more than we trust you”.

“I think this is slightly more than a thought bubble. He wants to shift the political debate towards something he feels more comfortable with … he’s been falling a bit in approval ratings, so by talking about national security he’s probably hoping things would turn around,” Dr Rizvi told The Nightly.

He said the answer to such a question was “pretty obvious to most people”.

But there is a cohort of voters who would emphatically support such a proposal. Redbridge director Kos Samaras said it was that group this idea was likely pitched towards, and it was being announced now because Mr Dutton needed those votes.

“If you look at what is happening (in the polls) right now, the Coalition are experiencing a similar attrition to what happened in 2022, where the Coalition lost some of their primary vote to right wing minor parties,” he told The Nightly.

“In the six seats Labor won — outside of WA — the wing to Labor was three per cent, while the swing against the Coalition in those seats was eight per cent.

“Dutton has been successful in solidifying that base (since May 2022), but in the last month we’re seeing that softness increase and fragmentation increase.

“So, this policy is about Dutton trying to stabilise his base.”

Shortly before the Voice to Parliament referendum was defeated, Mr Dutton called for a second referendum for symbolic recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution, a plan he dropped a month later because people were likely “over the referendum process for some time”.

Asked on Tuesday why a costly referendum would be needed at a time when many Australians are struggling with cost-of-living, Mr Dutton said the Coalition could “walk and chew gum”.

“If you want to keep your kids safe, and we want to keep kids safe in our community, then I don’t think you can put a price on that,” he said.

“You can deal with community safety at the same time that you can make good economic decisions to help people… that’s how we would approach it.”

The Government were quick to lash Mr Dutton’s proposal as a “bizarre” attempt to distract from the Coalition’s lack of cost-of-living policies in the lead up to next week’s Federal budget and the election due to be called soon after.

“These are important issues, but he will do absolutely anything to avoid coming clean on his cuts or on any economic policies, and that’s what we see on an almost daily basis,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

“I don’t think this idea will last long, just like a lot of other things that he said in an effort to try to avoid talking about the economy.”

Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash said while “all options” were on the table, the Coalition had “no plans to hold a referendum, and would only look to that option as a last resort”.

“However, if it gets to the point where it is necessary to amend our constitution to keep Australians safe, then we believe that’s a debate our country is mature enough to have,” she said.

Mr Albanese capitalised on the apparent internal disunity, lashing Mr Dutton’s proposal as a “thought bubble that has not made it to lunchtime”.

“This has not been thought through. It is not clear where this has come from. Peter Dutton wants to talk about anything but cost of living,” he said.