Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (1) on sheet 5346:

(1)    Schedule 1, item 5, page 5 (after line 17), at the end of section 23A, add:

        (8)    The Minister must cause an independent and comprehensive review of the operation of the citizen testing regime to be completed by August 2010 to:

             (a)    gauge its impact on citizenship application and conferral rates in all applicant categories; and

             (b)    specifically examine the citizenship test regime’s impact on citizenship application and conferral rates on persons seeking to enter Australia and become Australian citizens through refugee and humanitarian provisions.

        (9)    The person or organisation undertaking the review must give the Minister a written report of the review.

      (10)    The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be presented in both Houses of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of receiving the report.

I note the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs made several key recommendations following its inquiry into the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Testing) Bill 2007. The committee recommended that the operation of the citizenship testing regime be reviewed three years after the bill’s commencement, particularly in order to gauge the regime’s impact on citizenship application and conferral rates, and how it is impacting upon groups within our society, particularly the refugee and humanitarian entrants.

As the government would know and the Senate may know, there is a high correlation between humanitarian entrants and their ability to pick up citizenship at the expiration of the humanitarian visa. Of course, that has now been extended to four years, but there is a high uptake of citizenship amongst that group for a range of very good reasons that are reflected in that group. From what I have been led to believe, they are appreciative of the ability to be able to start a new life in Australia and recognise the value embodied in Australian citizenship.

A concern that a review could also look at would be where there may not be a high uptake in citizenship in some groups. All that can be looked at. The government has indicated there will be a review, but Labor thinks that the ability to have a review should be embodied in the legislation itself. It is not unusual, because the government has acceded to those requests in the past, for a review to be contained in the legislation itself. Labor’s amendment also sets out the areas that should be looked at. What can sometimes happen down the track—say, three years hence—is that we lose sight of what the review should encompass. But if you set out the parameters now and leave sufficient scope to add to them if necessary then you have a basis not only to look at now but to continue to look at and then finally review in three years time.

The Labor amendment says, ‘The Minister must cause an independent and comprehensive review of the operation of the citizenship testing regime to be completed by August 2010.’ I think it is necessary to have that element of independence about the citizenship testing regime. It is also necessary to gauge its impact on citizenship applications and to specifically examine the citizenship testing regime’s impact on citizenship application and conferral rates on persons. Those rates could be provided and the review could then be tabled. It would be helpful if this parliament would set out that course of action rather than simply conduct the more generic three-year review promised by the government. I ask the government and the minor parties to support the amendment.