Australian citizenship law changes

The Australian federal government is about to pass very significant, indeed historic, changes to the citizenship law that will benefit some 2,000 people now living in Malta. The committee inquiring into the provisions of the Australian Citizenship Bill 2005 tabled its report to the Senate on February 27.

The report recommends that Australian-born individuals living in Malta who had to formally renounce their Australian citizenship under section 18 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 should have the possibility of obtaining Australian citizenship again.

The citizenship laws of Malta at the time did not provide for dual citizenship once one turned 19; therefore Australian-born children brought back to Malta by their parents had to renounce Australian citizenship in order to be able to live, work and study in Malta.

The inquiry committee recommendation was welcomed wholeheartedly by Maltese Welfare (NSW), the only Australian-based organisation that asked to appear before the Senate inquiry at Parliament House, Canberra.

In my article on Australia Day (January 26) entitled They Can Call Themselves Aussies Again I hinted that this will be one of the recommendations of the inquiry. However, after having canvassed various Liberal members of Parliament on this issue I concluded that the other request about their children, put forward so eloquently by the Southern Cross Group of Belgium and several hundred families in Malta, will not be considered.

The appeal to the Senate committee was to recommend that children born in Malta (and elsewhere), after their parents' renunciation of Australian citizenship (section 18 offspring), would also be given a right to acquire Australian citizenship under the changes to the Bill.

The committee ignored other suggestions put forward. The Southern Cross Group said the report fails to include a number of groups of individuals who have a legitimate claim to membership within the Australian community because of their close ties to the nation in various ways.

When it comes to laws governing citizenship both the community and governments need to keep an open mind on such cases as they arise. Citizenship evolves as needs change. If the citizenship law is to fully embrace the global Australian community further amendments in the future will be necessary.

As I had said in my Australia Day contribution to The Times, it is not exactly what we had asked for but we did achieve the restoration of Australian citizenship to some 2,000 Maltese and they, in turn, can sponsor family members for migration to Australia.

We will continue our crusade on the issue of citizenship until governments really understand we live in a mobile global world.