2016]
The Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Australia
497
decision-maker’ since revocation ‘just happens when the relevant conduct is
undertaken’.250 While the Minister is required to ‘give, or make reasonable
attempts to give, written notice’ to the person that they have ceased to be an
Australian citizen,251 such ‘reasonable attempts’ may not be successful since
these provisions apply where the conduct is engaged in outside Australia, or
where ‘the person left Australia after engaging in the conduct’.252 In addition,
the notice requirement does not apply in certain circumstances, such as ‘if the
Minister is satisfied that giving the notice could prejudice the security,
defence or international relations of Australia, or Australian law enforcement
operations.’253 Further, while s 35B of the Citizenship Act prescribes the
‘[m]atters [that must] be set out in notices to persons who have ceased to be
Australian citizens’, these are limited to the relevant conduct by reason of
which the recipient’s citizenship has been renounced.254 There is no requirement that the Minister make specific reference to having made a finding that
the recipient has another nationality or citizenship, to identify the relevant
other nationality, or to disclose that such a finding was required.
These concerns are compounded by the broader inadequacy of Australia’s
system for identifying and protecting stateless persons, discussed in the
companion article.255 Despite Australia’s pledge in 2011 ‘to better identify
stateless persons and assess their claims’,256 there is still no legislative basis for
determining statelessness, and our analysis of the relevant procedures advice
manual, tribunal and judicial decisions reveals a lack of consistency and
clarity concerning the methods for ascertaining whether a person is indeed a
citizen of another state. Not only is there no coordinated approach to collecting information about stateless persons in Australia, but the Department of
Immigration and Border Protection has explicitly stated that it cannot
estimate the precise number of dual citizens, acknowledging ‘that the figure
was ‘‘not captured in the census because it is not a matter directly within the
250
Irving and Thwaites, above n 227, 144 (emphasis in original).
251
Citizenship Act s 33AA(10).
252
Ibid s 33AA(7). Section s 35(1)(c) concerns overseas service.
253
Ibid s 33AA(12).
254
Ibid ss 35B(1)--(2). However, we note that the Minister can decline to provide information
for various reasons, including that ‘the disclosure of the information or content would be
likely to be contrary to the public interest for any other reason’: at s 35B(3)(d).
255
Foster, McAdam and Wadley, above n 6.
256
See UNHCR, Pledges 2011, above n 63, 49.