Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian Citizenship Bill 2005 represents a significant rewrite of the Citizenship Act 1948. It was first introduced into the House 12 months ago. It has been listed for debate a number of times, and each time the government has withdrawn it as the time came to debate the bill. So it is good to see that it has finally come into the House for a proper debate.

I firstly would like to deal with the changes to the residency requirement encompassed by the bill. As originally constituted, this bill would have changed the residency requirement for Australian citizenship from two out of the last five years to three out of the last five years. The government told us that this was necessary for two reasons: firstly, to ensure that permanent residents seeking citizenship had better experience of Australian life and its rights and obligations before taking the important step to become a citizen; and, secondly—and perhaps more importantly—to allow more time to identify people who might be a security risk.

The government took that to COAG. The premiers were convinced. We indicated that the reasons presented by the government in times of heightened national security would lead us to support it—and then the government did nothing. They let the bill sit on the shelf; they did not bring it into the chamber for debate but let it rot. This was meant to be an important initiative for national security, but the government left it there. For 12 months we have debated all sorts of other legislation, and the government have chosen not to bring this on for debate.

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