A Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher is investigating the constitutional basis of citizenship, and proposals to strip members of international terrorist groups of their Australian citizenship.

Mr Mukesh Chander, a PhD student in the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences, recently presented a seminar at the University about his thesis.

"The rise of violent non-state armies who recruit Western citizens into foreign conflict zones have caused a re-evaluation of the notion of citizenship," Mr Chander said.

"The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Tony Abbott MP, and Attorney General, Senator George Brandis, have each made comments concerning 'stopping the mujahedeen', and have raised fears that Australian-born people will be stripped of their Australian citizenship if they engage in certain prohibited activities, such as participating in militant sectarian incursions in the Middle East.

"This is not a new development. The Howard government toyed with the idea of 'denationalisation' legislation in 2006 and the British Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act of 2002 ' ... made persons who had acquired British citizenship through birth subject to deprivation of citizenship powers for the first time'.

"Yet there is no ongoing discussion, either of an allegiance-based understanding of revocation of citizenship or of the suggestion that any 'breach of allegiance, or breach of the constitutional bond', by an Australian citizen, regardless of place of birth, ought to result in citizenship revocation as a means of safeguarding the majority of Australia's citizens," Mr Chander said.

Mr Chander's PhD examines the concept of citizenship as defined by legislation and traditional theorists, citizenship and the social covenant, and the concepts of state-based 'aliens' and 'alienation'.

"I am exploring the question of whether one who fights in the service of a non-state actor should be stripped of his or her Australian citizenship and refused re-entry to Australia as an alternative to trial unless certain circumstances are met," Mr Chander said. "If so, can they be so stripped of Australian citizenship in this way without breaching Australia's obligations under international treaties."

Mr Chander is also examining a framework for a new Citizenship Act. This will encompass elements such as the values of Australian citizenship, the delineation of behaviour as a matter of public policy, international practices, and de-radicalisation.