The " Citizenship " issue !

After the second world war ended Australia received a virtual tidal wave of immigrants to swell our dangerously small population.  Many were fleeing the advance of Stalin's Red army which failed to retreat from captured territory while others were simply seeking a better life.  Europe had taken a battering from air raids and invasion, and suffered years of food rationing.  By contrast, Australia seemed the "promised land "!

That was an era when we encouraged new settlers to learn the English language and take out Australian citizenship, but special rules applied to those emigrating from Britain.  They gained instant privileges on arrival and that included being grated voting rights.  Many assumed that this conferred instant Australian citizenship and few bothered to undertake the process of officially changing their nationality.

In particular, those bringing babies born in England with them placed them in Australian schools and they quickly became "Aussie kids ".  That was before the days of jet planes and cheaper travel costs, hence few needed to apply for a passport.   Those that did, found they needed a UK passport and were denied one by Australia.  Even worse,  should they commit a serious crime Australia could deport them back to their home country.

Several decades ago this situation broke on newspaper headlines and spurred a rush of citizenship applications.  A lot of older "Poms "who had lived most of their life in Australia moved to rectify that omission and the security it provided when citizenship became a major issue with the arrival of boat people at the end of the Vietnam war.  Today - with this new Middle East terror threat, making sure that the legalities are in place has new urgency.

Somehow that need failed to apply to our mates across the Tasman.  The relationship between the Kiwis and Aussies was forged in war and had very much been taken for granted.  It is almost as if we have dual citizenship rights because we freely travel between the two countries.  It is a sharp reminder that this does not have legal standing when six hundred New Zealanders with a criminal history have been deported in the past few months.

What exactly is involved in a deportation order being served ?   Three have served their sentence for murder, seventy were armed robbers, sixty-four have a history of drug offences, fourteen were rapists and another two hundred had convictions for violent assaults.   Many more were given their marching orders because they were members of criminal motorcycle gangs.

Deportation has always been an option, but in the past we seem to have tolerated our share of bad lads from New Zealand, and no doubt they have their share of criminal Australians living on the other side of the Tasman. Don't be surprised if the Kiwi's respond in kind and we see a mutual exchange of each others crims passing through airports.

This latest crackdown is a wake up call to all those living in this country without the protection that citizenship confers.   That piece of paper that proclaims a legal right to live in this country is something to be valued.  While we may have no intention of committing a crime, we can easily become involved in events which cast suspicion or even guilt by association.  Without citizenship, our right to reside becomes tenuous !