Australian laws to strip citizenship

Australia plans to make another try at laws to strip citizenship from people suspected of involvement with terrorism.

Australia's previous laws that allowed ministers to cancel citizenship based on suspicion were ruled unconstitutional.

The proposed replacement will be somewhat less unjust, simply because there will be some sort of court hearing to decide. But will that hearing be supposed to respect the same rights that a trial is supposed to respect? I fear it will follow a lesser standard, and that would make it an injustice.

Exile is a severe punishment, and it should not be imposed without the same safeguards that imprisonment would require.

I suggest that if a country wants to take away someone's citizenship over alleged terrorism, it should first arrest per, then put per on trial for that terrorism. If the accused chooses to remain in exile to avoid the trial, this achieves the same goal indirectly. However, person must have the right to return and face trial so as to clear per name.

Laws to empower a government to impose temporary exile on a citizen are likewise unjust. Any form of arbitrary state power can be useful for "managing risks", but that is not enough to excuse it.