Jacquett and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by conferral made by Mr. Jacquett, a citizen of the United Kingdom who had resided in Australia since 2005. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs refused the application. Mr. Jacquett sought review of this decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr. Jacquett satisfied the requirement under section 21(2) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth) to be of good character at the time of the decision. This assessment was complicated by Mr. Jacquett's failure to disclose a criminal conviction for contravening an apprehended violence order in his citizenship application, and his subsequent disclosure of this matter to the Tribunal. The Tribunal was required to consider the meaning of "good character" in the context of the Citizenship Policy and the impact of the non-disclosure and subsequent disclosure on this assessment.

The Tribunal found that while Mr. Jacquett's earlier criminal convictions in England, some of which were not fully disclosed in his application, were of a historical nature and unlikely to impact his present character, the failure to disclose the 2011 conviction for contravening an apprehended violence order was significant. The Tribunal reasoned that this omission, coupled with an incomplete disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the offence to the Tribunal, meant that Mr. Jacquett had not demonstrated the full and frank disclosure expected of an applicant seeking to become an Australian citizen. Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied that Mr. Jacquett was of good character.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse Mr. Jacquett's application for Australian citizenship.