38 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 41(2):Adv There’s been the benefit of the doubt at our borders, the benefit of the doubt for residency, the benefit of the doubt for citizenship and the benefit of the doubt at Centrelink. … We are a free and fair nation. But that doesn’t mean we should let bad people play us for mugs, and all too often they have.199 In the three countries, the expansion of citizenship stripping, coupled with this symbolic rationale, had the effect of shifting citizenship from a relatively secure status to one that is conditional. As Audrey Macklin has argued, ‘[c]itizenship emerges as an enhanced form of conditional permanent residence, revocable through the exercise of executive discretion’.200 Secondly, all three countries asserted that the expanded denationalisation powers and the shift towards a more conditional citizenship were necessary ‘modernisations’ of citizenship law. In the UK and Australia, proponents of these changes have strongly asserted that they are essential to mitigate increased threats to national security posed by contemporary challenges such as the foreign fighters phenomenon.201 This security argument was also invoked in the Canadian context but with somewhat less emphasis. Nonetheless, the Canadian citizenship stripping expansions were also presented as essential to modernise the law: when introducing the legislation into Parliament, the government stressed the fact that citizenship legislation had not been updated since 1977.202 The discussion in Part II assessed the utility of the revocation laws in each country in light of these justifications. This analysis shows that the security arguments supplied as justifications for the expanded laws are unsatisfactory and weak. Such justifications have tended only to invoke national security in general terms, rather than providing a persuasive and specific explanation of why citizenship stripping is a necessary or desirable means via which to pursue national 199 Liam Mannix, ‘“Bad People” Treating Us as Mugs: Abbott’s National Security Warning’, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, 15 February 2015) <www.smh.com.au/federalpolitics/political-news/bad-people-treating-us-as-mugs-abbotts-national-security-warning20150215-13f3bd.html>, archived at <https://perma.cc/U3UQ-KDTR>. For extracts of similar statements expressed by Defence Minister Jason Kenney in the Canadian context, see, eg, Stewart Bell, ‘Canada Revokes Citizenship of Toronto 18 Ringleader Using New Anti-Terror Law’, National Post (Toronto, 26 September 2015) <http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/ canada-revokes-citizenship-of-toronto-18-ringleader>. 200 Macklin (n 13) 29. 201 See, eg, United Kingdom, Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 2 December 2014, vol 589, col 207 (Theresa May, Secretary of State for the Home Department); Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, Senate, 3 December 2015, 9930 (George Brandis, Attorney-General). 202 Canada, Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 27 February 2014, 3310 (Chris Alexander). Advance Copy