"We want to ensure terrorists who are dual nationals are prevented from returning to Australia and dual nationals who engage in terrorism within Australia can be removed, where possible," Abbott said, as quoted on the Liberal Party of Australia website.
According to Abbott, the Australian Citizenship Act of 2007, which already allows for dual nationals to be stripped of their Australian citizenship if they serve in a foreign army at war with Australia, will be updated to counter the growing threat of terrorism.
Abbott noted that in the past nine months, 23 Australian citizens have been arrested in counterterrorism operations, which is as many as the total number of all the prior terrorism-related arrests in the country starting from 2001.
Australia is one of the countries whose nationals are traveling abroad to fight for the Islamic State (ISIL) jihadist group, with more than 100 Australian nationals said to have gone to Iraq and Syria to join the militants.
On May 23, Abbott said Australia was facing an increased terror threat, adding that six terrorist attacks had been averted in the country since September 2014. According to the prime minister, Australia is under threat from both foreign and home-grown terrorists.
