Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When you become a senator in this place you are invited to do a whole range of interesting things, most of them outside the building. Some of them are a great pleasure and, indeed, an honour to attend. One thing that is a great honour to attend is a citizenship ceremony. Attending the ceremony and watching people make their commitment to becoming Australian citizens is significant and deeply moving.

So I was a little startled when I received a copy of a letter one of my state colleagues in Western Australia had received from the City of Stirling. It was about their new arrangements for citizenship ceremonies. They were pointing out that, with the government’s change in rules, there has been a large influx of people applying to take out Australian citizenship and therefore they were changing some of the scheduled ceremonies. That is fine. Of course, we are getting very close to an election so people are organising not just for members of parliament but for endorsed candidates to turn up. In its letter, the City of Stirling went on to outline when the new ceremonies would take place and then said:

In addition, the City wishes to draw to the attention of all Members of Parliament that the Code states, inter alia, “it is essential that the dignity and bipartisanship significance of citizenship ceremonies be maintained at all times. Citizenship ceremonies shall not be used as forums for political or partisan expression.” In order to ensure compliance with this requirement, the City advises it will not allow endorsed political candidates to be included, in any capacity, as part of the City’s citizenship ceremonies.

This is something I do not have a problem with, something I might recommend to the mayors of the City of Wanneroo and the City of Joondalup that they also adopt. My problem is that when you look at the guidelines that the city’s letter refers to you see they have left out one crucial bit. The guidelines say:

As well as the Minister, organisers must also invite:

• the local Federal Member/s of Parliament;
• a Senator from a different political party to that of the local Federal Member.

I have checked with my Labor colleagues and with my office. None of us can recall ever being invited to a citizenship ceremony at the City of Stirling. None of us has been invited to the one they have written to my state colleague about, which is taking place on 27 June. It would seem that every citizenship ceremony they have conducted since I became a senator in this place has not complied with the guidelines. I have been to one citizenship ceremony that they conducted, and that is because I asked my office to ring and request an invitation. I would have thought that would alert them to the fact that I was active in the northern suburbs of Perth and enjoyed attending those occasions. I have not heard from the city since.

I have checked with Senator Evans. He has been to one function at the City of Stirling. It was not a citizenship ceremony. He has been a senator in this place since 1993. I have checked with the office of Senator Mark Bishop. He has been a senator in this place since 1996. He has not had any correspondence from the City of Stirling either. I have checked with Senator Glenn Sterle, the most recent Labor senator from Western Australia in this place, and his office has never had any contact with the City of Stirling.

Whilst it might look a bit cute to write to my state colleagues and say that my friend, the Labor candidate for Stirling, cannot attend the citizenship ceremony—and, as I say, I accept that and I will be talking to the Mayor of the City of Wanneroo and suggesting that Mr Simpkins perhaps cannot attend his ceremony either—they might like to ensure they comply with the department’s guidelines before they try to score cheap political points.