Opposition leader says ‘we want to keep ourselves safe’ but senior minister Michaelia Cash downplays prospect of referendum stating ‘we have no plans … at this stage’

Peter Dutton has floated the idea of a referendum on giving the federal government more powers to deport criminals with dual citizenship, despite declaring 18 months ago that the Indigenous voice vote was a waste of money and Australians were “over the referendum process”.

Hours after the deportation proposal surfaced, the shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, downplayed the prospect of a referendum on the issue, stating the Coalition had “no plans” for such a vote but was keeping “all options on the table”.

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