EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Australian Citizenship Act 2007
Proclamation
Table item 2 in subsection 2(1) of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (the Act) provides that sections 2A to 54 of the Act commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if any of these provisions do not commence within the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which the Act receives the Royal Assent, they commence on the first day after the end of that period. The Act received the Royal Assent on 15 March 2007.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 1 July 2007 as the day on which sections 2A to 54 of the Act commence. Sections 2A to 54 are the substantive provisions of the Act. Schedule 1 to the Act, which contains the pledge of commitment as a citizen of the Commonwealth of Australia would commence at the same time as section 2A to 54.
The Act replaces the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 and sets out how a person may become an Australian citizen, how citizenship may be evidenced and, in certain circumstances, how a person may cease to be a citizen.
In particular, the Act:
- includes simplified outlines to assist readers to understand the Act;
- sets out the circumstances in which people automatically become Australian citizens;
- sets out the eligibility requirements for the acquisition of Australian citizenship by descent, adoption, conferral or resumption;
- changes the residence requirement for most citizenship applicants to four years lawful residence immediately before making an application;
- allows the permanent resident spouse or interdependent partner of Australian citizens to have their residence outside Australia taken to be residence in Australia in certain circumstances;
- provides for the acquisition of citizenship by people born in Papua prior to 1975 to a parent born in Australia as currently defined;
- allows children who were born after a parent ceased being an Australian citizen upon acquiring the citizenship of another country to become Australian citizens;
- prohibits the approval of citizenship for people, other than certain stateless people, who are assessed as being a risk to Australia’s security;
- prohibits the approval of citizenship for certain stateless people who have been convicted of national security offences or other offences for which a sentence of imprisonment of at least five years has been imposed;
- prohibits approval of citizenship by conferral during any period in which there is pending action that could be taken in respect of the person under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or Territory, any periods in prison and certain periods following imprisonment;
- allows former Australian citizens, who renounced their citizenship to become citizens of another country to avoid suffering significant hardship or disadvantage, to resume Australian citizenship;
- provides for the collection, use, storage and destruction of personal identifiers;
- extends the provisions for revocation of Australian citizenship to include serious criminal offences committed at any time prior to acquisition of citizenship, and third party fraud; and
- provides the discretion to revoke a child’s citizenship if the child’s only responsible parent ceases to be an Australian citizen.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.