Australian Citizenship: Passion or Process?

| June 22, 2010

I was very honoured to be a conferree’s guest at Australia’s largest Australian Citizenship Ceremony held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday, 19 June 2010.

I first met the conferree 11 days after his arrival in Melbourne from Brazil on 13 April 2007 at one of the monthly Welcome to Melbourne events I have hosted since 16 January 2005. He was extremely excited to become an Australia citizen but was also disappointed that someone else he knew was becoming a citizen ‘as a safety net/back up option’ – and he wondered whether or not the Australian Government could change the rules to perhaps allow more people to live here (with the relevant visa) but ONLY give Australian Citizenship to those people who truly wanted to be Australian.

Unfortunately I could not imagine a test that would assess someone’s true heartfelt feelings about their adopted country. How could any government create a test or process that would ensure only ‘true believers’ would become Australian citizens?  How do we measure someone’s passion and commitment to build our nation?  And who is to say that someone who does it for ‘safety’ reasons will not become a valuable contributor to our society?

I first became involved with Australian Citizenship on 27 May 2003 – when I was approached by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA – now the Department of Immigration and Citizenship – DIAC) to promote the concept of Australian Citizenship to English speaking arrivals.  These newcomers had often lived in Australia for years but had never become Australian Citizens.

On 15 August 2003 I was very privileged to be able to attend the Highest Australian Citizenship Ceremony at the Rialto Building in Melbourne and then on 4 September 2003, the first airborne Citizenship Ceremony in a Qantas aircraft that departed from Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, flew over Victoria and Melbourne city and then returned to Tullamarine.  Shortly after on 9 May 2004, I attended a previous largest Australian Citizenship Ceremony at Melbourne‘s Exhibition Building (the site of Australia‘s first Commonwealth Parliament in 1901).

As glamorous as these events sound, they did not compare with the feeling of yesterday’s event, as I was seated by someone whom I met soon after his arrival, having seen his trials and tribulations over the last three years and yesterday saw the culmination of his life goal of moving to Australia and making it his new home. 

His other guest was an Australian who has lived in other countries around the world and the three of us sat next to a man from Israel who was there on his own. For some reason, he assumed the conferree with us was British (perhaps because both of his guests were Anglo Australians). In a harmonious society, we are often reminded to view people who look different and consider how much the ‘same’ they are to us. However, as my local church minister suggested recently, sometimes people look the same but feel different.

But I wondered at the time, how many newcomers go through these milestones in life without new friends to share the experience?

As the Founder and Director of Newcomers Network, I was reminded once again of why I do this work – because I know it makes a difference and it is my absolute honour and privilege to be able to work with such proactive people. My tips and advice to this conferree insured that he had friends – not only at the Australian Citizenship ceremony but at celebrations later in the evening.

As to my personal opinion, I believe that one of the best ways to move forward in Australia is to have an excellent command of written and spoken English and a supportive network of friends, colleagues and mentors.  Like any transition in life, it is handled most effectively with good strategies rather than emotional reactions.  As I prepared for the ceremony, I felt as though it was as an extremely significant event for the conferee and I was more than happy to share the experience.  The event was very well organised and the atmosphere was one of quiet anticipation and excitement. 

To all of the other new Australian Citizens there on the day, I wish you a long and happy life here in Australia – may your adopted home give you the opportunity to fulfill your dreams.

Do you have an Australian Citizenship story you would like to share?

I would welcome your comments and feedback on the issues raised in this post – either directly on Open Forum or personally via email sueellson @ newcomersnetwork.com (remove the spaces).

 

Sue Ellson BBus AIMM MAHRI, Founder and Director, Newcomers Network , Supporter of Diverse Australia Program. Sue Ellson first started supporting the Australian Government’s Living in Harmony initiative back in 2003. With the change of government, it has been changed to the ‘Diverse Australia Program.’ With humble beginnings 10 years ago, these programs have had a focus on reducing racism – and Sue is pleased to see the new direction towards the key message of ‘Everyone Belongs.’

 

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0 Comments

  1. albaval

    June 23, 2010 at 8:18 am

    Citizenship Passion or Process?

    I find this question hard to answer..

    I have been living in Australia for over 20 years, and have been a citizen for 17. I became a citizen even when my country did not permit dual citizenship.

    However, I still understand why people may choose the citizenship option even if they are not so sure they are passionate about Australia. The migration experience can be daunting. It can be extremely successful, but it can also be frustrating to some. Specially those who have come here with high expectations of success and do not achieve it immediately. Some can say to those newcomers, why don’t they go back then? But it is not so simple. The experience of living in a different country changes any person. The sad thing is you are the same person when you left you country of origin, but you are not the full identity of where you are living.  

    To me alot depends on degree of attachment one has to the country of origin. It also depends on the work the person has done to create new networks and be surrounded by ‘adopted’ families and friends or social networks that generally creates life comforts and sustain their plans (career or life). To me the creation of professional, social and individual networks is the key to making someone feel embraced when they arrive.

    To me that is what makes one feel at home, that is what creates the life attachments that make them feel Calling Australia Home. 

    As for a citizenhsip test, I dispute the value of a test. I am in favour of education about the Australian values, Australian culture. That can be done in many different ways. One option would be a day seminar introducing newcomers who aspire to become citizens to other Australian born and naturalized ones who trully live by the quintessential value of our culture.  

    In Summary, to me it is both.. passion and process

     

    • Sue Ellson

      June 23, 2010 at 1:20 pm

      Citizenship Passion or Process? Culture options…

      Hello albaval

      How brave to become a citizen of Australia and lose your previous citizenship – I am SO GLAD that people can now have dual citizenship (for most countries).

      You are right that it takes a long time to become an ‘identity’ in your own right in a new country.  If you move to some regional areas of Australia, as far as they are concerned, if you were not born there, you will NEVER be a local.

      Creating networks is essential for all movers – wherever they go and for whatever length of time.  I believe comfort also comes when people move from conscious incompetence to unconscious competence.

      Like you, I have never been a fan of a Citizenship Test – my belief is learning good quality English is far more important for successful settlement in Australia.

      Australian culture is something that I do not think even Australians can define.  However, there are certain cultural norms that do exist here and helping new arrivals create realistic expectations, learn to accept new ways of doing things and familiarise them with some of the common cultural basics would be extremely valuable (and I am not just talking about football here).

      I also believe that the pledge focuses on the right start – ‘whose rights and liberties I respect, and
      whose laws I will uphold and obey.’  This is absolutely fundamental to living in Australia.  You can still be your own person, but you cannot break our laws (created under democratic processes).  If people can confidently state this, anything is possible – as humans, I think we all work better when there is both freedom and appropriate boundaries.

      Further comments and postings welcome!

      Cheers, Sue Ellson

  2. Inigrant

    July 20, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Multiculturalism

    Definition per factual historical events:A good idea destined to fail. By that I mean the structural necessities to ensure any degree of success were rather absent. For example, where are the transitional programs necessary to assist the assimilation of new people into this island of unknown content to the outside world. Food for thought?

    Australia is indeed a racist country and has been built upon that premise from the landing and settlement of ‘white’ people. Racing through the ‘wog’ years of new Australians during, for example, the 1950s it should be apparent that the average ‘Australian’ (i.e. Anglo) is not the enemy of different races . . . unless they live ‘next door’!

    Why any rational human would think the bringing together of many different cultures (many from countries of origin stricken by war and the flow on effects) randomly without thought to the possibility of misunderstandings of each other as well as the existing ‘tenants’ is stupendous.

    • Sue Ellson

      July 20, 2010 at 11:47 pm

      Multiculturalism

      Hello Inigrant and welcome to Open Forum, nice to receive your comment!  I hope you contribute more in the future.

      I absolutely agree that there are not transitional programs for assimilating (or integrating) new people into Australia, it has been done very much on an ad hoc or response to crisis fashion for many years (which is why I am advocating for the information sessions as a starting point).

      I have been in this space for over 10 years now and most initiatives start due to either personal need or because of project funding – and when either of those two motivations disappear, so does the support/program.

      It is often because a direct dollar value is not associated with the impact of this service.  How do we really measure happiness, effectiveness and effective citizenship?  Do we need to resort to arbitrary rankings of crime or employment – the problem is, none of these can be DIRECTLY related to effective settlement.  There is a long history of depression, suicide, family breakdown, business failure, bad work performance etc associated with people who have NOT transitioned well into life in Australia.

      For those Australians who have lived here for more than two generations, I can understand how difficult it is to accept new neighbours with different cultural norms and previous life experiences.  However, we are simply lucky to have been born here and be relatively isolated from the conflicts overseas.  As human beings though, surely we must have compassion and understanding for our fellow man?  How can we be more entitled to a peaceful and happy existence because it is our birthplace?

      Various governments have tried to manage our borders, with various ranges of success.  On the one hand, we need to be prudent, on the other, humanitarian.  It is a difficult juggling act and like any decision and process, better options are always available, particularly with hindsight.

      So now that we are HERE in this moment, what is the best way to move forward?  Yes, some precedents have been set – but what can the future bring?  How can we as resident Australians make it better for ALL Australians in the future?  Let us fly the banner for improvement rather than wave the flag of surrender.

      Sue Ellson
      Newcomers Network