New Aussies evaporate

Collapse in numbers for citizenship ceremonies

THE Gold Coast’s marquee Australia Day citizenship ceremony may have no new citizens to welcome as thousands of applicants wait to see whether the Federal 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.

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, have had their appications put on hold, 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 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”.

The Gold Coast council usually conducts two ceremonies on their citizenship days, but dwindling numbers will see them combined into one ceremony on each date.

Any backlog after the freeze could be cleared with a super ceremony, similar to that held in May 2014, when more than 900 Gold Coasters were welcomed at the Broadwater Parklands.

Mayor Tom Tate said more than 28 per cent of locals – including himself – were born overseas, making the Coast a truly multicultural city.

“One of the best parts of my

job as Mayor is conducting these citizenship ceremonies and making new Australian citizens,” he said.