Nearly 300 people stopped from leaving to fight in Middle East by counter-terrorism officers: Dutton

Posted Wed at 5:41am

Counterterrorism officers have stopped 288 people from leaving Australia to fight in the Middle East, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says.

Mr Dutton said the officers had either prevented people from boarding or had removed them from planes before they took off.

He said they had also assessed more than 100,000 people who were seeking to leave the country.
"We will provide support to these officers because they are stopping these people going across to fight in the Middle East," he said.

"They are stopping them when they come back to this country and this government, Madam Speaker, will absolutely stand up with those officers to keep the Australian public safe."

It comes as the Government revealed it cancelled the passports of 18 people suspected of involvement in terrorist activity in the last three months.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it had also suspended the passports of nine other people since last December.

Department officials told a Senate estimates hearing 118 passports had been cancelled in the last two-and-a-half years.

The Government is considering a separate proposal to revoke people's citizenship if they are suspected of fighting for terrorist groups.


Prime Minister Tony Abbott confronted colleagues earlier this week after details of a Cabinet row about a contentious proposal to give the Immigration Minister the power to strip citizenship from Australians linked to terrorism emerged late last week in Fairfax newspapers.