498 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 40:456 competence of any agency or department’’.’257 It is questionable in these circumstances whether an internal, unaccountable and unreviewable process can accurately and appropriately allow for the analysis required to ensure that the renunciation provisions do not render a person stateless. Although the Minister may make a determination to rescind a renunciation of citizenship notice, and thus exempt a person from the effect of his or her conduct, the Minister is not required to consider: (a) whether to exercise this discretion at all, or (b) any particular matters in deciding whether to consider exercising the discretion.258 Further, the Act explicitly provides that there is no requirement on the Minister to provide notice or reasons for deciding not to consider exercising the discretion,259 and that the rules of natural justice do not apply to, inter alia, ‘any decision whether to consider exercising the power’ to exercise the discretion.260 It is only once the Minister has decided to consider whether to exercise the discretion that he or she ‘must have regard to’ a series of factors that include ‘the person’s connection to the other country of which the person is a national or citizen and the availability of the rights of citizenship of that country to the person’.261 However, even in this context there is no requirement to consider whether the person is indeed a national or citizen of another country. The only safeguard lies in ss 33AA(24) and 35(19), which provide that ‘a person’s citizenship is taken never to have ceased under’ the operative sections (in relation to specified conduct) if, inter alia, ‘in proceedings under section 75 of the Constitution, or under this Act or another Commonwealth Act, a court finds that the person was not a national or citizen of a country other than Australia at the time’ of the conduct.262 However, this protection is unlikely to be effective. Even if the Minister’s ‘reasonable attempts’ to provide the relevant notice of revocation are successful, a person to whom these provisions apply is, by definition, likely to be outside Australia; the resources 257 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, above n 188, 38 [4.15] quoting Evidence to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Parliament of Australia, Canberra, 5 August 2015, 57 (Michael Pezzullo, Secretary, Department of Immigration and Border Protection). 258 Citizenship Act ss 33AA (15)--(16). 259 Ibid s 33AA(21). 260 Ibid s 33AA(22). All of these provisions are replicated in s 35. 261 Ibid ss 33AA(17)(f), 35(12)(f). 262 Ibid ss 33AA(24)(b), 35(19)(b).