Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) If:
(a) a person is convicted of one or more serious offences; and
(b) the court has decided to impose on the person, in respect of the conviction or convictions, a period of imprisonment that is at least 3 years or periods of imprisonment that total at least 3 years; and
(c) before the court imposes the sentence or sentences on the person in respect of the conviction or convictions, the Minister makes an application under subsection 36D(1) for an order to be made under this subsection in relation to the person; and
(d) the court is satisfied of the matters specified in subsection (4) of this section;
the court may, when imposing such a period or periods of imprisonment on the person in respect of the conviction or convictions, also order at that time as part of the sentence or sentences that the person ceases to be an Australian citizen.
Note: Subsections (5) and (6) set out, without limitation, matters the court must have regard to in deciding whether to make an order under this subsection.
(2) However, the court must not make an order under subsection (1) in relation to the person if the court is satisfied that the person would, if the court were to make the order, become a person who is not a national or citizen of any country.
(3) A serious offence is an offence against any of the following provisions:
(a) a provision of Subdivision A of Division 72 of the Criminal Code (explosives and lethal devices);
(b) a provision of Subdivision B of Division 80 of the Criminal Code (treason);
(c) section 83.1 of the Criminal Code (advocating mutiny);
(d) a provision of Division 91 of the Criminal Code (espionage);
(e) a provision of Division 92 of the Criminal Code (foreign interference);
(f) a provision of Part 5.3 of the Criminal Code (terrorism), other than the following provisions:
(i) section 102.8;
(ii) Division 104;
(iii) Division 105;
(iv) section 105A.7D;
(v) section 105A.18B;
(g) a provision of Part 5.5 of the Criminal Code (foreign incursions and recruitment).
Court to be satisfied of certain matters etc.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(d), the matters are the following:
(a) the person is aged 14 or over;
(b) the person is an Australian citizen;
(c) the person's conduct to which the conviction or convictions relate is so serious and significant that it demonstrates that the person has repudiated their allegiance to Australia.
(5) In deciding whether the court is satisfied of the matter referred to in paragraph (4)(c) in relation to the person's conduct, the court must have regard to the following matters:
(a) whether the conduct to which the conviction or convictions relate demonstrates a repudiation of the values, democratic beliefs, rights and liberties that underpin Australian society;
(b) the degree, duration or scale of the person's commitment to, or involvement in, the conduct to which the conviction or convictions relate;
(c) the intended scale of the conduct to which the conviction or convictions relate;
(d) the actual impact of the conduct to which the conviction or convictions relate;
(e) whether the conduct to which the conviction or convictions relate caused, or was intended to cause, harm to human life or a loss of human life.
(6) In deciding whether to make an order under subsection (1) in relation to the person, the court must have regard to the following matters:
(a) if the person is a child aged under 18--the best interests of the child;
(b) if the person has any dependent children in Australia--the best interests of those children;
(c) 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.
(7) Subsection (6) does not limit the matters to which the court may have regard in deciding whether to make an order under subsection (1) in relation to the person.
Concurrent sentences
(8) If:
(a) a person has been convicted of 2 or more serious offences; and
(b) a court has decided to impose on the person, in respect of the conviction or convictions, 2 or more periods of imprisonment to be served concurrently (whether in whole or in part);
then, for the purposes of subsection (1), the whole of each period is to be counted in working out the total of those periods.
Example: A person is convicted of 2 serious offences and a court has decided to impose on the person in respect of the convictions 2 periods of 2 years imprisonment to be served concurrently. For the purposes of subsection (1), the total period of imprisonment is 4 years.
References to period of imprisonment
(9) For the purposes of subsection (1):
(a) a reference to a period of imprisonment in that subsection does not include a period of imprisonment that is suspended; and
(b) a reference to a period of imprisonment in that subsection includes a reference to a single sentence of imprisonment that a court has decided to impose in respect of both one or more serious offences and one or more other offences.
Other matters
(10) This section applies in relation to a person who is an Australian citizen regardless of how the person became an Australian citizen (including a person who became an Australian citizen upon the person's birth).
(11) Part IB of the Crimes Act 1914 (which deals with sentencing, imprisonment and release of federal offenders) does not apply in relation to an order under this section.