RADICAL Muslim cleric and terror cell leader Abdul Benbrika could be kicked out of Australia under Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s citizenship changes.

Benbrika is exactly the sort of dangerous extremist the planned changes to the Citizenship Act are aimed at.

The illegal immigrant was given “the benefit of the doubt” and allowed to remain in Australia despite authorities ordering him out of the country three times.

Benbrika, 53, was convicted in 2008 of leading a terrorist network which was planning attacks in Australia.

Mooted targets of Benbrika and his Melbourne and Sydney terror cells members included the MCG during the 2005 Grand Final, Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, and Crown casino on Grand Prix weekend.

Benbrika was secretly taped by police saying he wanted to kill a thousand Australians.

“We’ll damage buildings. Blast things. Thinking big not small,” Benbrika said on tape.

Counter-terrorism police involved in foiling Benbrika’s bombing attempt yesterday welcomed the news that Benbrika could be stripped of his Australian citizenship and deported when he is released from jail in 2017.

“Benbrika has continued to radicalise his supporters while in jail and is just the sort to commit a terrorist act in Australia if he is released into the community,” a senior counter terrorism officer told the Herald Sun.

“Some of his followers are now fighting in Syria with Islamic State.

“Benbrika was actually ordered out of Australia three times by the Immigration Review Tribunal in the 1990s but was given the benefit of the doubt by the then Labor Government and allowed to stay.

“He started planning attacks and recruiting for his terror cell almost immediately after the Immigration Review Tribunal failed in its bid to get rid of him.

“I applaud the Abbott Government for this initiative to strip citizenship from those who would do us harm.”

The Herald Sun revealed in November last year that newly appointed Australian Federal Police chief Andrew Colvin was concerned about a number of people considered to be security threats.

“With clear support from the Government, we are working very closely with Immigration on what our options are around such people,” Mr Colvin told the Herald Sun in his first media interview as AFP Commissioner.

“We will be looking at all such options with our Government partners.”

Changes to the Citizenship Act being planned by Mr Abbott could also be used to prevent Australians fighting with Islamic State in Syria and elsewhere from returning.

Benbrika was an illegal immigrant who was ordered out of Australia in 1990, 1994 and again in 1995.

A last-ditch appeal against his deportation to the then Federal Labor Government succeeded later in 1995.

The joint AFP and Victoria Police counter-terrorism taskforce Pendennis later discovered Benbrika was already actively recruiting for his Victorian terror cell when he got ministerial approval to stay in Australia.

Police also secretly recorded video footage of Benbrika exploding a small bomb in secluded bush near Kilmore

He was later taped discussing a 500kg version of the 500g test bomb he watched explode at Kilmore.

Victoria Police explosives expert John Kelleher gave evidence during the Benbrika terror trial that he did not know of any building in Melbourne that wouldn’t have been levelled by a bomb of the size Benbrika was talking about making.

The Algerian-born Benbrika arrived in Australia as a visitor on May 16, 1989, and was granted a temporary entry permit which was valid for a month.

He was employed as an aircraft electrical technician by Algerian Airlines prior to his arrival in Australia.

Benbrika’s visitor visa was extended twice to allow a total period in Australia of six months.

He overstayed and was officially declared an illegal immigrant in late 1989.

It took another 10 months before he was ordered out of Australia for the first of three times by the Immigration Review Tribunal.

Benbrika disappeared off the Immigration Department radar in 1990 and stayed in Australia as an illegal immigrant.

A 1995 Immigration Review Tribunal document, which has been seen by the Herald Sun, details Benbrika’s illegal status.

“Upon the expiry of his temporary entry permit on November 16, 1989, he became a prohibited non-citizen,” it said.

“On December 19, 1989, his designation changed to that of an illegal immigrant and on September 1, 1994, he became an unlawful non-citizen.”

Benbrika married Lebanese-born Rakia Abdallah on August 7, 1992, when he was 32 and while he was an illegal immigrant.

INTELLIGENCE FEARS: Freed terrorists still a threat

She was 20 and had been an Australian citizen since June 1991 after arriving from Lebanon as a permanent resident in October 1988.

Three months after the wedding, using the fact he was married to an Australian citizen, Benbrika applied for a visa to stay in the country.

He did so under a category of entry permit created by the Government in October 1990, which allowed illegal immigrants to apply for a visa if they were in a relationship with an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

The relationship had to have been in existence in 1990 at the time the new category was created.

Benbrika’s application was rejected by the Immigration Review Tribunal on May 10, 1994, after it found Benbrika and Rakia had not even met each other in 1990, let alone formed a relationship.

The tribunal again ordered Benbrika out of Australia in 1994. His wife appealed that decision and that appeal was rejected on April 26, 1995.

The tribunal’s written decision in ordering Benbrika out of Australia for a third time in 1995 said: “The Minister is the only person who may grant a visa in circumstances where the relevant criteria are not met, although this power can only be exercised where it is in the public interest to do so.”

That last ditch appeal worked and Benbrika was granted a permanent visa just a few months after the Immigration Review Tribunal tried to kick him out of the country.

Benbrika fathered seven children after marrying Rakia, never got a job and received welfare payments for most of the 16 years he lived in Melbourne until his arrest on terrorism charges in 2005.

In one of his appeals to be allowed to stay, Benbrika extolled the virtues of living in Australia.

He said he didn’t want to go back to Algeria because of its economic difficulties and that he “loved the Australian lifestyle”.

Benbrika is due for release for release from jail in November 2017.

keith.moor@news.com.au