Dutton's totalitarian citizenship laws an unprecedented power-grab

Australian Greens spokesperson for legal affairs Senator Penny Wright says the Abbott Government's proposal to bypass the courts and concentrate power in the hands of the Minister must be stopped.

"It is an extraordinary abuse of power to have one person deciding who gets to be Australian or not," Senator Wright said.

"The decision to remove a person's citizenship - the most fundamental right of our Constitution - must only ever be made by a court of law.

"The Abbott Government is seeking unprecedented power to bypass the courts, throwing out the most basic democratic right we have.

“It is it absolutely disgraceful that the Labor Party cannot find the spine to stand against it.

"Peter Dutton's proposal that he alone should have the power to strip away a person's citizenship on suspicion alone is preposterous, unworkable and only goes to show how extreme this government really is."