IN THE midst of the ongoing battle with COVID-19, government continues to allow holders of Australian passports to return.
Some bring the virus with them into quarantine, leaving many Australians shaking their heads.
Finally, UK returnees must have a COVID-19 test before flying home – a logical idea, months late, and now we have the UK virus in Brisbane.
DEBATE
So why do we continue to let the virus fly into Australia?
Freight air-crew aside, who are the returnees? Do they have two passports? Are they Australian-born, long-time residents who have been trapped overseas for a period – or residents of other countries who acquired an Australian passport?
The debate about citizenship, residency and passports is now, more than ever, timely.
It’s true that most countries allow dual passports, but a deadly pandemic should create a time in which to open the debate.
Our current immigration laws state that if you are “an Australian citizen you have an automatic right of entry to Australia and need only present a current Australian passport on your arrival. Australian citizens who travel without an Australian passport might have their entry delayed until their identity and claim to Australian citizenship has been verified”.
So who are Australian citizens who travel without a passport?
At some point we need to tackle the debate that no government seems willing to take on: Why should any of us hold two or more passports?
Ironically, Australians can hold dual passports but our federal politicians can’t – a double standard. If it’s good enough for our politicians to be “only” Australian, why not everyone?
The Pledge of Commitment says:
From this time forward,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey
Again, it commits to loyalty, but not solely to Australia.
It’s timely, given the circumstances globally, to ask what having a passport really means and to debate if we should now allow our citizens to only hold one passport – an Australian one.
The subject of dual citizenship seems too hard for any government to tackle, but many would welcome debate.PC
Passports were originally introduced as a protection for the traveller; hence the unctious injunction in both the UK and the Australian passports for the bearer to be allowed to “…pass freely without let or hindrance” etc. They swiftly became a mechanism of state control.
Holding a passport is a recognition of citizenship, but citizenship can be held without owning a passport. As a dual citizen I enjoy the convenience of local entry into the UK when I go there and into Australia when I return. Apart from that it is largely an irrelevance.
For members of parliament the issue of dual citizenship is important as they are empowered to act for the nation; we ordinary citizens are not. If a dual citizen is compelled to choose and they chose Australia, would that make them any more loyal to the nation or less likely to commit crimes and other anti-social activities? I think not.
If I was currently in the UK and wanted to return to Australia then I would do so as an Australian, not as a closet pommie sneaking over for a better place to sit out Covid 19. Yet to suggest that somehow, upon becoming an Australian citizen (now of some 17 years standing) I was able to shed every facet of Englishness and regard for what I left behind is nonsense, particularly as I have a family over there.
The only occasion where this duality might become an issue is when a war occurs between the two nations. I don’t think that Australia is about to declare war on the UK or vice versa.
Perhaps there are more important issues to concern us right now.
The real point here is why is anyone but aircrew coming in? You can’t wipe it out but we should protect everyone until we get the vaccine out. Everything Government does seems too late
Dual passports held by people who work overseas is a legitimate reason to hold dual citizenship. Leaders are supposedly leaders, so a total commitment to nation is a good thing. The inherited entitlement as a Section 44i thing is dubious, but it is fair enough to expect that leaders are supposed to be a cut above the rest of us. Of note, bearing obedience, allegiance or adherence to the UN should put almost every single politician since the war in breach of 44i.
The UN is a private foreign power. Unelected and unaccountable. Every single treaty signed with the UN since 1945 is an act of TREASON.
Some of the Treaties have compromised our sovereignty, which is also against Article 2 of their own charter.
Australian Citizens traveling on their Chinese Passport this just does not sound right?
So many original passports are maintained for emotional attachment to the “homeland”. Australia should issue a sentimental passport to recognise the original birthplace. Issue it when the new Aussie one is given out. But make it useless officially.
Australian Citizens should not be allowed to be Dual Citizens —it is unprincipled.
i tend to agree dual Citizenship should be stopped, especially the British one which seems easily held, just need one UK parent. But then when does one expect a person to decide? When they are young? Hardly fair as they don’t know what they want, by 21? Still too early maybe.