The son of alleged war criminal Charles Zentai says all legal avenues will be exhausted in an effort to overturn the federal government's approval for his father to be extradited to Hungary.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor on Thursday announced the 88-year-old Perth man, accused of a war crimes offence dating back to 1944, would be surrendered to Hungarian authorities.
Subject to any legal challenge by Zentai, Hungarian authorities have two months in which to carry out the extradition.
Mr O'Connor said the decision to approve the extradition was not an indication of Zentai's guilt or innocence.
"It was about deciding whether or not Mr Zentai should be surrendered to Hungary in accordance with Australia's extradition legislation and its international obligations," he said.
"These obligations reflect Australia's crime co-operation responsibilities to other nations around the globe."
Zentai's son, Ernie Steiner, said he had spoken briefly with his father's lawyers about taking legal action in an attempt to overturn the decision.
"In the immediate sense we will be speaking with the lawyers and they will be putting a case together for review by the Australian Federal Court," Mr Steiner told AAP.
"We will exhaust all avenues, and particularly at this time because the basis on which we can make submissions and arguments on my father's behalf has really broadened.
"We were always involved in these really narrow arguments relating to the conditions of extradition and the definitions and so forth. For the last four years that was the only avenue open to my father."
Mr Steiner said the decision to approve the extradition had come as a shock.
"I had some confidence in the submissions that had been put forward.
"But when you read the minister's statement and he places such emphasis on Australia's international obligations at the expense of protecting an Australian citizen I understand how political this decision is.
"Also, there's issues about whether Hungary can provide a fair trial for my father in the absence of any living witnesses."
Mr Steiner said he had not spoken to his father since the announcement on Thursday evening.
"My father gave just a brief message on my mobile phone and that's all I heard since visiting him this afternoon.
"He sounded very matter of fact. He does know that he has avenues of review and he would be very hopeful that finally these arguments will be fully considered."
Mr O'Connor said his decision took into account the circumstances of the case, including representations made on behalf of Zentai and representations by Hungarian authorities.
"The Australian government takes international crime co-operation and allegations of criminal conduct, including war crimes, seriously," Mr O'Connor said.
"It also ensures we co-operate effectively, on matters of justice, with countries around the world."
Zentai, of Willeton in Perth's southern suburbs, turned himself in to police last month.
The Hungarian government alleges Zentai was one of three Hungarian soldiers who beat and tortured Jewish teenager Peter Balazs, before his body was thrown into the Danube River in Budapest in November 1944.
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