Advance Copy
THE UTILITY OF CITIZENSHIP STRIPPING
LAWS IN THE UK, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA
S A N G E E T HA P I L L A I * A N D G E O R G E
W I L L IA M S †
In three common law countries — the UK, Canada and Australia — recent legislation significantly expanded the grounds on which nationals can be stripped of their citizenship.
In each country, two justifications were invoked to support the expanded grounds for citizenship deprivation: a symbolic justification, asserting that citizens who engage in particular behaviour do not deserve to retain their citizenship, and a security justification, which
cast citizenship stripping as a necessary device to neutralise threats from within the
citizenry. In this article, we examine the denationalisation laws introduced in each of
the three countries and analyse the extent to which each law served these symbolic and
security justifications.
CONTENTS
I Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2
II Enactment, Justification and Efficacy of Revocation Laws
in the UK, Canada and Australia ................................................................................ 7
A The UK ............................................................................................................... 7
1 Laws Enacted........................................................................................ 7
2 Justifications .......................................................................................11
3 Use and Efficacy .................................................................................13
B Canada .............................................................................................................20
1 Laws Enacted......................................................................................20
2 Justifications .......................................................................................21
3 Use, Efficacy and Repeal ...................................................................22
C Australia...........................................................................................................27
1 Laws Enacted......................................................................................27
2 Justifications .......................................................................................31
*
BA (Hons), LLB (Hons) (UNSW), LLM (Syd), PhD (UNSW); Senior Research Associate, Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Faculty of Law, University of
New South Wales.
†
BEc, LLB (Hons) (Macq), LLM (UNSW), PhD (ANU); Dean, Anthony Mason Professor and
Scientia Professor, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales; Foundation Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law; Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow; Barrister,
New South Wales Bar.
Cite as:
Sangeetha Pillai and George Williams, ‘The Utility of Citizenship Stripping Laws in the
UK, Canada and Australia’
(2017) 41(2) Melbourne University Law Review (advance)