Security & Character

 
 

Here are the revamped provisions in relation to security clearances in s.17(4):

 

The Minister must not approve the person becoming an Australian citizen at a time when an adverse security assessment or a qualified security assessment in respect of the person is in force under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 that the person is directly or indirectly a risk to security (within the meaning of section 4 of that Act).

 

Here is the change in relation to revocation of the grant of citizenship (the change being in bold) in s 34:

 

Citizenship by conferral

 

(2) The Minister may, by writing, revoke a person’s Australian citizenship if:

(a) the person is an Australian citizen under Subdivision B of Division 2 (including because of the operation of s 32); and

(b) any of the following apply:

(i) the person has been convicted of an offence against s 50 of this Act, or ss 137.1 or 137.2 of the Criminal Code, in relation to the person’s application to become an Australian citizen;

(ii) the person has, at any time after making the application to become an Australian citizen, been convicted of a serious offence within the meaning of subsection (5);

(iii) the person obtained the Minister’s approval to become an Australian citizen as a result of migration-related fraud within the meaning of subsection (6);

(iv) the person obtained the Minister’s approval to become an Australian citizen as a result of third-party fraud within the meaning of subsection (8); and

(c) the Minister is satisfied that it would be contrary to the public interest for the person to remain an Australian citizen.

 

Serious offence

(5) For the purposes of this section, a person has been convicted of a serious offence if:

(a) the person has been convicted of an offence against an Australian law or a foreign law, for which the person has been sentenced to death or to a serious prison sentence; and

(b) the person committed the offence at any time before the person became an Australian citizen.

 

In these controversial times it is useful to reflect on the preamble to both the old andM the new Act:

Persons granted Australian citizenship enjoy these rights and undertake to accept these obligations

by pledging loyalty to Australia and its people, and

by sharing their democratic beliefs, and

by respecting their rights and liberties, and

by upholding and obeying the laws of Australia:

Barbara Davidson