The government is preparing legislation that would give the immigration minister the power to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship, without a court process, if they are involved in terrorism. At least half a dozen ministers used last Monday's cabinet meeting to voice objections to a second proposal that could see sole nationals – if they can obtain citizenship elsewhere - stripped of their citizenship. Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull, Barnaby Joyce, George Brandis, Christopher Pyne and Kevin Andrews are all believed to have spoken against the idea, which is included in a new discussion on citizenship being led by Philip Ruddock. It was revealed several ministers were unaware of the proposal, had received no written briefing and the matter was not listed on the cabinet agenda. Mr Dutton did not answer questions about whether he and Prime Minister Tony Abbott were forced to shift the proposal for sole nationals into the discussion paper after their attempts to include it in the draft legislation were overruled by senior ministers.

"I'm not going into process," he said. "The position that came out of cabinet was a position the Prime Minister and I took to the cabinet and it was endorsed by the party room. "Obviously there's overwhelming support in the party room for what we're proposing both in terms of the legislation and also some of the aspects which are contained in the discussion paper." Mr Dutton said the proposal was strongly supported by the backbench. He said any legislation that enhanced the minister's powers would still have safeguards to ensure people could not be rendered stateless and that there was a process of judicial review.

"I believe very strongly that the way in which the UK systems has operated, with ministerial intervention, with the ability for the courts to assess that decision, is entirely appropriate and we don't propose to water that down at all." Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told the ABC's Insiders on Sunday there was "spectacular disagreement in what can only be described as a dysfunctional cabinet on this issue". He said he had "serious concerns" about the proposal but did not say whether or not Labor would oppose it. "We haven't had a chance to look at any proposal because there isn't one. There is a seven-page discussion paper," Mr Dreyfus said. "Absolutely the bedrock should be nobody should be made Stateless by an act of the Australian Government."