CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian Parliament has passed laws that enable the government to prevent suspected extremists from returning home for up to two years despite some lawyers concerns that the new power breaches the constitution.
The Senate passed the laws with the center-left Labor Party supporting the conservative government’s bill even though it worried that it gives Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton too much discretion to decide who was banished.
The Law Council of Australia, the nation’s leading advocacy for lawyers, has questioned whether the proposed law was constitutional and urged the Senate to refer the bill to a parliamentary committee for review.