Citizenship Concerns Ahead of Aust Day As Govt Eyes Visa Changes

When the parliamentary year begins in just over a week, the Turnbull government will have a second go at passing legislation to make it harder to officially become an Australian citizen.

The Senate killed off proposed citizenship changes late last year but the government has not given up hope of getting revised measures through Parliament in the first half of 2018.

The new roll-out date for the changes is July 1.

“We’ve made a couple of changes based on the feedback we’ve received, and off the back of those changes, we hope that it will go through the Parliament,” Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge said.

“This bill is designed to ensure that new citizens have every chance to seize the great opportunities which Australia has to offer, but they’ll only be able to seize those opportunities if they have a basic understanding of English and if they’re integrated into the community.”

Crossbench negotiations

The Turnbull government’s plans were first announced in April 2017.

They included making permanent residents wait four years instead of one to apply for citizenship and requiring them to pass a university-level English language test.

Tony Burke, Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia, said: “As long as the government is bringing back a proposal that is deliberately designed to prevent people who would make good Australians from ever becoming citizens, then Labor’s going to stand opposed to it.”