Citizenship " Rights " !

Probably the most essential document to have in Australia is a birth certificate.  In this electronic age producing one is required to open a bank account, gain a driving license or enrol children in school. What is surprising is the number of unregistered births that take place each year, resulting in applicants turning to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in later life to obtain one.   This involves a fee of sixty dollars.

Unregistered births are scattered across the wide spectrum of society and only births occurring in hospitals are certain to be recorded.  That unregistered number is unknown and can only be calculated when we take a census.  It is often unrecorded where it was a home birth or took place amongst our indigenous population in country areas.

In New South Wales unrecorded births are common in many suburbs and they reach a peak in country areas.  Having a baby is a natural and uncomplicated process and home births are the preferred cultural practice in many of our migrant communities.  A birth certificate is a testament to who we are and it is essential in proving our Australian citizenship.

Finding that sixty dollars can be a hardship for the homeless, children under eighteen who are not at school, those experiencing domestic violence  and those incarcerated   In New South Wales the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages waives that fee in such circumstances. Such applications have increased ten fold in the past two years as the computer age drives more and more functions online.  In New South Wales the number of free birth certificates increased from  80 to 953 in that two year period.  There is the expectation that it will mushroom further as this electronic age tightens.

To some degree, this reluctance to register births is connected to the changing attitude to marriage.  Half a century ago it would have been difficult for a couple to rent a house without the woman wearing a wedding ring.  Our social habits have vastly changed.   That church ceremony has gone out of favour and couples usually live together openly and often create a family with children.  Birth certificate rejection seems to run in tandem with that same avoidance of the marriage certificate.

In 2018 it is calculated that the number of unrecorded births in New South Wales was about thirty percent of total births.   The government is making it easier to register a birth online to avoid the necessity of attending a registration centre and ensure that the new born has access to the many services available to every citizen.

Gaining a birth certificate is simply establishing the legality that we have the right to live in this country.