Anton and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by conferral made by Mr Anton, which was refused by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The refusal was based on the assessment that Mr Anton was not of good character at the time of the decision. Mr Anton sought review of this decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr Anton satisfied the "good character" requirement under section 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). This assessment involved considering Mr Anton's past conduct, specifically his convictions for taking part in a riot and for manufacturing and possessing weapons while in immigration detention in 2009, for which he received a suspended sentence. The Tribunal also had to consider a subsequent minor traffic offence in 2012 and Mr Anton's failure to disclose his convictions on his citizenship application form.

The Tribunal found that while the riot convictions and the failure to disclose were serious matters, subsequent conduct could demonstrate reform. It noted that Mr Anton had no further criminal convictions after 2012 and had provided character references. The Tribunal concluded that, in light of his subsequent conduct and the time elapsed since the offences, Mr Anton had demonstrated that he was of good character for the purposes of the Citizenship Act. The Tribunal set aside the Department's decision and remitted the matter with a direction that Mr Anton satisfied the character test.