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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-11-30 Daily Xml
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Citizenship Ceremonies

In reply to the Hon. T.A. FRANKS (28 October 2021).

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): The Attorney-General has advised:

Councils hold the majority of citizenship ceremonies across Australia. However, the Local Government Act 1999 is silent on the role of councils in citizenship ceremonies.

The legislation that determines how people become Australian citizens is commonwealth legislation—the Australian Citizenship Act 2007. Under this act, a person before whom the citizenship pledge is made must be authorised by the Australian government minister responsible for citizenship matters. In the case of councils, this is usually the Mayor and chief executive officer.

All councils therefore hold citizenship ceremonies on behalf of the Australian government, in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). The Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code (the code) sets out the legal and other requirements for conducting citizenship ceremonies. Councils must comply with this code when arranging and holding citizenship ceremonies.

Importantly, the code requires ceremonies to be 'non-commercial, apolitical, bipartisan and secular. They must not be used a forum for political, partisan or religious expression.'

The Office of Local Government undertook significant discussions with DHA over 2018 to determine how best to resolve this matter.

On 25 September 2018, the then Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon. David Coleman MP, wrote to all councils reiterating the Australian government's position that 'councils must not use citizenship ceremonies, or their ability to determine the dates on which they are held, as a political movement to change its date. Any action taken to do so is a serious breach of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code.'

On 14 January 2019, Minister Coleman wrote to all councils, seeking feedback on a proposed revised code, requiring councils to hold a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day.

On 19 September 2019, Minister Coleman again wrote to all councils, announcing the publication of a new version of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code, which states that:

'Local government councils must ensure ceremonies are conducted in accordance with the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code. This includes a requirement to hold a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day (January 26). Councils that conferred citizenship on less than 20 people in the previous year are exempt from this requirement.'

These actions taken by the Australian government to ensure that all councils conduct citizenship ceremonies on 26 January where practicable, and do not utilise these events to make a political or partisan point on any views that may be held about this date, have nullified the requirement for amendments to the Local Government Act 1999.

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