Immigration minister looking at emulating powers used in UK to prevent the return of dual nationals who go out to fight

Scott Morrison has signalled the government could seek to remove the Australian citizenship rights of dual nationals fighting in Syria, along the lines of powers being exercised in the UK.

The immigration minister used an interview with Sydney radio station 2GB on Monday to confirm the Abbott government was looking “right now” at strengthening its options to deal with dual nationals fighting in Syria.

The minister was asked whether the Australian government would seek to emulate the citizenship-stripping powers being exercised by the British home secretary, Theresa May.

May targeted 20 dual nationals in 2013 using "deprivation of citizenship orders" in an attempt to prevent combatants in the Syrian conflict returning to the UK. This was a significant increase in the use of the powers compared with the previous two years.

Morrison responded to the question from his host, Ray Hadley, by saying the Abbott government was currently considering all its policy options.

Australia, the minister said, had powers to stop potential combatants leaving Australia through the cancellation of travel documents, but added the Australian government lacked the British government’s more wide-ranging powers under the citizenship act. In the UK, the home secretary can strip dual nationals of their British citizenship if it has been obtained fraudulently, or if citizenship is not in the public interest.

“We are looking right now at all the options that are before us to strengthen powers when necessary,” Morrison told 2GB on Monday. “We are looking at every option available to us. We don’t want those troubles in this country and people who bring them here should not come.”

Referring explicitly to the revocation of Australian citizenship for dual nationals, Morrison said the Australian government would “definitely want to have things of that order to enable you to protect the country from the incursion of that sort of violent and unhelpful views”.

“You want to arm yourself with all the necessary powers to deal with what is a very serious threat to Australia if people come here and seek to stir up trouble,” the minister said. “The Abbott government is pretty clear: we are not going to put up with this sort of thing.”

Morrison said the Muslim community in Australia had expressed concern to the government about the potential for extremists to create trouble in Australia after radicalisation in Syria.

The previous Labor government, while expressing concern about the issue, ruled out citizenship revocation as a tool to deal with radicalised returnees from the Syrian civil war. The then foreign minister, Bob Carr, said the government could not strip people of their Australian citizenship.

Late in 2013, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) used its annual report to parliament to warn there was an increased risk of fighters in Syria perpetrating violence in Australia upon their return.

“The Syrian conflict has resonated strongly in Australia and is likely to have a lasting impact on Australia’s security environment for the foreseeable future,” Asio said in the report, tabled in November 2013.