Former Home Affairs chief suggests ministerial discretion to curb IS-linked return permits

Mike Pezzullo, who oversaw the creation of temporary exclusion orders under the Morrison administration, said the automatic issuance of return permits for citizens barred on security grounds could be replaced by a discretionary ministerial process. He suggested aligning passport-issuance powers with the exclusion regime, allowing a two-year hold on travel documents when a security risk is identified. The proposal comes after the recent authorized return of an IS-linked woman and reports that up to 13 men in Iraqi prisons may seek to travel home.

Pauline Hanson’s private-member bill and the Coalition’s counter-terror legislation both aim to stop such returns and strip passports, yet neither has sufficient votes to pass. Labor’s Tony Burke contends existing laws already push constitutional limits and warns that blocking citizens could set a precedent that hampers deportations of foreign criminals. Constitutional scholar Anne Twomey cautioned that the threshold for a court-approved exclusion order would be extremely high, making Hanson’s plan unlikely to succeed.