2017] Citizenship Stripping Laws in the UK, Canada and Australia 33 to comments by Senator Nick McKim that the proposed legislation, in particular its retrospective provisions, could actually function to undermine, rather than promote, national and global security,171 Brandis said: It will keep Australians safe. Senator McKim, if you were to apply the famous pub test to this and you asked your average Australian whether they would feel safer or less safe if people who have been convicted and sentenced for more than 10 years imprisonment for committing a terrorist crime were to be booted out of Australia and whether Australians would approve of it, I dare say they would say yes.172 3 Use and Efficacy The Australian law was enacted in a climate of urgency, with the government suggesting that it, among other measures, was required to deal with immediate threats to the Australian community.173 Once enacted, the citizenship-revocation measure came into force on 12 December 2015.174 In February 2016 the Citizenship Loss Board held its inaugural meeting.175 In February 2017 it was confirmed that the laws had been used for the first time to strip the citizenship of Islamic State militant Khaled Sharrouf.176 As with Canada’s decision to revoke the citizenship of Zakaria Amara, Australia’s decision to denationalise Sharrouf carries greater symbolic weight than practical utility in securing Australian national security. Sharrouf left Australia for Syria in 2013 and has made no attempts to return to Australia. In 2015, unconfirmed media reports claimed 171 Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, Senate, 3 December 2015, 9937–8 (Nick McKim). 172 Ibid 9938. 173 Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 24 June 2015, 7369 (Peter Dutton, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection). 174 Allegiance to Australia Act (n 157) s 2. 175 The minutes of this meeting have been obtained via The Guardian Australia’s freedom of information request (Farrell (n 148)): Citizenship Loss Board IDC, ‘Draft Minutes of Meeting Held on Tuesday, 23 February 2016 at DIBP, 2 Constitution Avenue Canberra’ (Minutes, 23 February 2016) <http://gimc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20160520_FA160401379_ Documents_Released.pdf>, archived at <https://perma.cc/P4BL-RJRE>. 176 Paul Maley, ‘Khaled Sharrouf Stripped of Citizenship under Anti-Terror Laws’, The Australian (Sydney, 11 February 2017) <www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/khaledsharrouf-stripped-of-citizenship-under-antiterror-laws/newsstory/c82f008e768ae74f7798af983c4d2051>. Advance Copy