A senior member of the Coalition has told Sky News there are no plans to hold a referendum on national security.
That’s despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton floating the idea of holding a referendum on deporting dual nationals guilty of criminal offences as a pre-election pledge.
According to The Age, the proposal would allow ministers to cancel the citizenship of individuals guilty of crimes such as terrorism.
Sky News confirmed that the current position of the Coalition is not to hold a referendum, only to consider it as a case of “last resort”.
“We have no plans to hold a referendum at this stage and would only look to that option as a last resort,” Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash told Sky News in a statement.
“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.”
That’s despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton floating the idea of holding a referendum on deporting dual nationals guilty of criminal offences as a pre-election pledge.
According to The Age, the proposal would allow ministers to cancel the citizenship of individuals guilty of crimes such as terrorism.
Sky News confirmed that the current position of the Coalition is not to hold a referendum, only to consider it as a case of “last resort”.
“We have no plans to hold a referendum at this stage and would only look to that option as a last resort,” Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash told Sky News in a statement.
“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.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00Let's bring it back home now. A senior member of the coalition has told Sky News there are
00:04no plans to hold a referendum on national security. That's despite the opposition
00:08leader floating the idea of stripping terrorists of their citizenship lie to political correspondent
00:13Cam Redden. Cam, Peter Dutton says he wants to have a discussion about this but
00:18what's the coalition's actual position? Well Laura, much like where we landed on the issue
00:23of insurance divestiture, the coalition has seemingly landed somewhere in the middle.
00:28There's a commitment to consider but not a commitment to act on this issue just yet.
00:33The proposal first reported in the nine newspapers today suggests that the coalition's leadership
00:38team is warming to the idea of a referendum on national security that would seek to give
00:43ministers the power to strip those who are convicted of terror offences, for example,
00:48of their dual citizenship or their Australian side of their citizenship and then deport them.
00:53The power currently exists for judges through the courts but it does not exist for ministers
00:59and there was a suggestion this morning again on television by the opposition leader that he is
01:03warming to this idea but Sky News has confirmed today that the current position of the coalition
01:09is not to hold a referendum, only to consider it as a case of last resort. I want to show you this
01:15statement provided by the shadow attorney general Michele Cash to Sky News in the last few minutes
01:20confirming the coalition's position on this. She says we have no plans to hold a referendum
01:25at this stage and would look to that option as a last resort. However, if it gets to the point
01:31where it is necessary to amend our constitution to keep Australians safe, then we believe it's
01:36a debate our country is mature enough to have. So a commitment to consider, not yet a commitment to
01:42act. That's despite the opposition leader spelling out the case as he says it this morning that
01:48Australians may also be warming to this idea of needing to change the constitution and strengthen
01:53ministers hands to keep the community safe. We can do as much as we can by legislation but as
01:59they say you can't out-legislate the constitution. What we're proposing here is a discussion about
02:05whether we've got adequate laws, whether the constitution is restrictive and if you want to
02:09keep your kids safe and we want to keep kids safe in our community, then I don't think you can put
02:14a price on that. No price on keeping the community safe says the opposition leader. Of course it was
02:19the issue of price that the coalition for several years now has argued was one of the reasons the
02:24voice referendum should not have gone ahead. The government contributed $364 million to that.
02:30The AEC, the electoral commission, estimated that the total cost may have been closer to $450 million.
02:37Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, for several years now believes that that process was a
02:41distraction for the government and also in his view a waste of money. The government's wasted $450 million
02:48on the voice. $450 million on the voice. $450 million on the voice. $450 million on the voice.
02:55$450 million on the voice campaign which divided our country. But he is now suggesting that a
03:01referendum may need to be on the table on national security, Laura. Of course the opposition leader
03:06previously suggested a referendum on indigenous recognition after the voice that was walked back
03:11and what we've just revealed to you that right now the coalition's position on this is to consider
03:17but not to yet go ahead with a referendum on national security.