On Australia Day, Lawrence Dimech looks at the Bill before the Australian Federal Parliament that could affect the lives of more than 3,000 people living in Malta.

The Australian Parliament has before it a significant piece of legislation that could affect over 3,000 people living in Malta. It also highlights the intricate and diverse ways in which citizenship laws can affect people not living in their own countries. Citizenship tends to create a strong bond with the country of one's birth and shape the future of one's life.

After many years of lobbying, the Australian government has agreed to reinstate citizenship to those Australian-Maltese who were forced to renounce their Australian citizenship by their 19th birthday in order to keep the Maltese citizenship in adulthood. In most cases it was useful because they were brought back to Malta when very young by their parents after living in Australia for many years.

These Australian-born Maltese lost their citizenship under section 17 of the Australian Act. This section provides that adult Australians who did "any act or thing - the sole or dominant purpose of which and the effect of which is to acquire the nationality or citizenship of a foreign country - shall upon acquisition cease to be an Australian citizen". No application was necessary and no decision was involved.

Malta did not allow dual citizenship before 1989; therefore Australian-born citizens living in Malta who renounced their Australian citizenship before that date did so to satisfy the requirements of Maltese law because Australian law never demanded that one must renounce another nationality on assuming Australian citizenship.

The Bill now before the Australian Parliament does not meet the demands of children born in the period when their parents had ceased to be Australian citizens by virtue of their renouncing to it. These children insist they should be given the right to Australian citizenship.

I have asked Alan Cadman, a veteran Federal parliamentarian, to explain why his government seems to be against granting citizenship to children born in Malta whose parents were not in fact Australian citizens. He said that unlike the many former citizens who lost their Australian citizenship when they acquired another citizenship, people who renounced their Australian citizenship knew they had ceased to be citizens (they had made a formal application to renounce such citizenship and a decision had been made on that application). They should therefore not have any reason why to expect that their children, born after their renunciation, should have access to Australian citizenship.

When it comes to former citizens, the Australian law did not allow them to resume citizenship until 2002 when the law was changed to allow former citizens to resume citizenship if they were under the age of 25.

The Bill before Parliament is making a further, very significant, concession by removing the 25-year age limit. Mr Cadman explained that this means that former Australian-born Maltese who renounced their citizenship between the ages of 18 and 19 in order to remain in Malta to live, study and work and who are now over the age of 25 and still living in Malta can resume their Australian citizenship.

No doubt, Australian citizens who successfully resume their citizenship can sponsor family members for migration to Australia and a permanent child visa may be issued to any dependent child up to 24 years of age. Once permanently resident in Australia, the child would ordinarily become eligible for Australian citizenship. Children under 18 could be accommodated immediately by virtue of a policy in respect of existing broad discretions under citizenship legislation.

Since the Howard/National government has absolute majority in both Houses it is expected that the Bill before the House will be endorsed as explained above. It is not exactly the sort of arrangement many of us wanted but we have come a long way. We live to fight on another day.

I have to acknowledge the very effective campaign launched by the Southern Cross Group of Geneva and Canberra and their Malta representative, Norman Bonello, a former resident of Sydney Australia and son of the former Malta High Commissioner Nicholas Bonello JP. They lobbied hard and it was not for their want of trying that our wishes will not be met to the full.

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