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

This matter concerned an application for citizenship by conferral made by the applicant, a 56-year-old man who had arrived in Australia in 1995 using an assumed identity. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs refused the application, and the applicant sought review of that decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was of good character for the purposes of section 21(2)(h) of the *Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). This required the Tribunal to assess the applicant's enduring moral qualities and whether he was likely to uphold and obey the laws of Australia, considering his history of offending and his conduct throughout the application process.

The Tribunal considered the respondent's contentions that the applicant's offending was prolonged and enduring, that he continued to make false representations about his offending even after conviction, that his expressions of remorse were equivocal and lacked corroborating evidence of rehabilitation, that his character references might not have been based on full candour, and that his claims of societal contribution were exaggerated or uncorroborated. The Tribunal also noted the applicant's continuing failure to provide requested penal clearance certificates. The Tribunal applied the ordinary meaning of "good character" as enduring moral qualities, distinguishing it from mere reputation, and referencing the Australian Citizenship Policy and relevant case law, including *Irving v Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs* and *Fenn v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs*. The Tribunal found that the mere passage of time since offending was an equivocal factor and that the applicant had not demonstrated a sufficient subjective engagement with the nature and extent of his past offending.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision to refuse the grant of citizenship by conferral.