THE Federal Government has been put on notice to put up its new citizenship laws or risk having them struck off.
The Gold Coast Bulletin revealed the five-month delay on processing citizenship applications will mean the city’s marquee Australia Day citizenship ceremony may have no new citizens to welcome as thousands of applicants wait to see whether the Government’s stricter laws will allow them to pledge their allegiance.
Numbers for the next quarterly council ceremony on October 5 are already down by two thirds on last year — from 644 last October to 217 this year.
The government has been given four parliamentary sitting days to bring its controversial changes to citizenship laws on for debate in the Senate or risk
A Greens motion passed the upper house late yesterday with the support of Labor, the Nick Xenophon Team and Jacqui Lambie, giving an October 18 deadline for debate to start.
More than 600 Gold Coasters were made Australian citizens at council ceremonies in the first quarter of this year but numbers will have dried up by Australia Day — and the second 2018 ceremony on Valentine’s Day — as applications have been frozen since the changes were announced on April 20.
It takes between five and 16 months from the time of application for successful applicants to attend a ceremony, meaning there will only be a handful left to pledge by the new year, even if the freeze is lifted today.
More than 64,000 people across the country that have applied for citizenship since April 20, more than 10,000 in Queensland, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said yesterday.
The Senate is considering new laws which mean people have to be permanent residents for four years instead of the current one year, and has also proposed more stringent English language requirements of for new citizens.
The proposed laws, which would be retrospective to April 20, make no changes to who is allowed to enter or stay in the country on tourist or other visas.
Liberal National Party Senator James McGrath said the motion was a stunt which showed how little respect the Greens had for Australian citizenship. “In lurching to the extreme left in partnering with the Greens, Labor has hit a new low for border integrity,” Senator McGrath told parliament. Earlier, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Labor didn’t want a debate on citizenship because it was internally divided on the issue.
“When the Labor Party cuddled up next to the Greens, 50,000 people came on 800 boats and 1200 people drowned at sea,” Mr Dutton said.
Nick Xenophon Team Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore said the government needed to go back to the drawing board.
“The Nick Xenophon Team will oppose the bill in its entirety because it’s fundamentally flawed and would require significant redrafting for us to consider it,” Senator Kakoschke-Moore told parliament.
Greens Senator Nick McKim, who moved the motion, said it was a win for people in limbo since the government announced the changes in April.
“Peter Dutton knows he doesn’t have the numbers for this divisive bill — he has failed in his attempts to remake this country in his own hateful image,” Senator McKim said in a statement.
The Senate Committee examining the Bill recommended that migrants who were already permanent residents before the government’s announcement be allowed to apply for citizenship under the old rules.
The committee called on the Senate to reconsider the English requirement, fearing if it was too tough it might disqualify people who could be “valuable members of the Australian community”.