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Department of Immigration and Border Protection | 2 Submission to the Inquiry into the Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures) Bill 2017 Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee UNCLASSIFIED Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter One Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6 Immigration is helping to shape the nation ......................................................................................... 6 Australia’s success as an immigration nation ..................................................................................... 6 Developments in Australia’s immigration policy ................................................................................. 9 Citizenship in Australia today ........................................................................................................... 10 Australian citizenship—privileges and responsibilities ..................................................................... 13 Privileges ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Responsibilities ............................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter Two The changing global context ........................................................................................... 15 Technology and mobility .............................................................................................................. 15 National security .......................................................................................................................... 15 Addressing the national security concern—Australia’s response ............................................... 16 Strengthening integration ............................................................................................................ 17 Martin Place siege ....................................................................................................................... 18 International approaches to integration ....................................................................................... 19 Chapter Three The National Consultation on Citizenship: Australian Citizenship—Your Right, Your Responsibility ......................................................................................................................................... 20 The National Consultation on Citizenship ........................................................................................ 20 The Final Report of the National Consultation on Citizenship— key findings and recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 20 Promoting community understanding of the value of Australian citizenship ............................... 21 Strengthening the pathway to citizenship .................................................................................... 22 Case for reform ............................................................................................................................ 22 General residence ....................................................................................................................... 23 English language ......................................................................................................................... 24 Citizenship test ............................................................................................................................ 24 Integration .................................................................................................................................... 25 Pledge ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter Four The Australian Government’s response —Strengthening the Test for Australian Citizenship ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Reforms to strengthen the test for Australian Citizenship ................................................................ 27 Implementation of reforms ................................................................................................................ 28 Rationale ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Measures .......................................................................................................................................... 29 A new general residence requirement before application for citizenship ............................... 29 A new English language test before application for citizenship ............................................. 29 A new citizenship test, containing questions on Australian values ........................................ 30 A new requirement to provide evidence of integration into the Australian community .......... 30 New significance of the Australian values statement ............................................................. 31 A new pledge of allegiance to Australia ................................................................................. 31 Response to the announcement of the reforms ............................................................................... 31 UNCLASSIFIED Department of Immigration and Border Protection | 2 Spike in applications ......................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter Five General residence requirements .................................................................................... 33 Changes through history on residence requirements ...................................................................... 33 International comparisons ................................................................................................................ 34 Australia’s current residence requirements ...................................................................................... 39 General residence requirement ........................................................................................................ 39 Special residence requirements ....................................................................................................... 40 Defence Service requirement ........................................................................................................... 40 The case for reform .......................................................................................................................... 41 Australia’s new requirements ........................................................................................................... 41 Ministerial discretion—new power to waive general residence requirement ................................... 42 General residence requirements for certain New Zealand citizens.................................................. 43 Responses to the reforms ................................................................................................................ 44 Length of permanent residence ................................................................................................... 44 Impact on skilled migrants ........................................................................................................... 45 Impact on families........................................................................................................................ 46 Impact on refugees and humanitarian entrants ........................................................................... 46 Chapter Six English language requirements ........................................................................................ 47 Changes through history on English Language requirements ......................................................... 47 International comparisons ................................................................................................................ 48 International language test providers and test scores ...................................................................... 49 Australia’s current requirements ....................................................................................................... 52 Exemptions to the English language requirements .......................................................................... 53 Programmes that support migrants to learn English ........................................................................ 53 The case for reform .......................................................................................................................... 55 Australia’s new requirements ........................................................................................................... 57 Responses to the reforms ................................................................................................................ 58 A separate English language test ...............................................................................................
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