The Australian government has to manage the return of its citizens, except in very particular circumstances when citizenship can be cancelled, a passport denied or a temporary exclusion order issued.

The Coalition and One Nation have insisted the Albanese government should have stopped this week’s return of four Australian women and nine children from Syria after the conflict with Islamic State. But was that ever a realistic possibility?

There are three mechanisms the government could potentially have used to prevent return:

cancel their citizenship as the British government has done with one case;

implement temporary exclusion orders.

Citizenship cancellation

Citizenship cancellation laws introduced by former immigration minister Peter Dutton have a very chequered history, having been overturned in two High Court cases (Alexander and Benbrika).

The current arrangements for citizenship cancellation, which reflect the government’s response to these two High Court decisions, are as follows:

the person is aged 14 years or over;

the person is a dual national;

the person has been convicted of one or more serious offences;

the court has imposed a period, or periods, of imprisonment that total at least three years or more;

the conduct the offence relates to is so serious and significant that it demonstrates that the person has repudiated their allegiance to Australia.

The key change is that a decision on cancellation is not made by the minister. Rather the minister must apply to a court to have a citizenship cancelled.

In the case of the Australian women, two difficulties arise. First, it appears that none are dual nationals. The one case where Britain has cancelled the UK citizenship (of Shamima Begum) was on the basis she was a dual national. That is being contested.

Second, these women have not yet been convicted of any crimes. That may happen now they........

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