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Citizenship changes 'heavy handed'
Published on: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 12:00:00 GMT
PLANS to force migrants to wait an extra year before seeking Australian citizenship were reactionary and heavy handed, rights groups said today. Prime Minister John Howard proposed a raft of new policing and citizenship measures today, under a wide-ranging counter-terrorism regime. The changes include increasing the waiting period to obtain citizenship from two to three years.
The Federal Government also wants all applications to be security-checked so citizenship can be refused on security grounds.
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia founder Keysar Trad said the year-long extension to the waiting period for citizenship would be unsettling for new migrants, and would bring little good.
"I don't see the wisdom behind this at all," Mr Trad said.
"The extension is disconcerting and it certainly makes a mockery of the requests for people to integrate easily."
It was doubtful the change would help curb terrorism, he said.
"I don't see how extending the period by 12 months is going to do anything to find which migrants are terrorists," Mr Trad said.
"All it will do is delay smooth integration and settling down."
Australian immigration lawyer Michaela Byers also criticised the announcement, saying the new conditions would act as a deterrent for law-abiding permanent residents.
"To make thousands of law-abiding permanent residents go through that extended process is a very heavy-handed reaction," Ms Byers said.
"Right now the Government is trying to encourage 900,000 permanent residents to become citizens, and they're having trouble doing that under current law.
"Further restrictions on citizenship will only act as more of a deterrent, and that's the last thing we should be doing."
There was little evidence of any gains to be made from such changes, Ms Byers said.
"I don't think there's real proof that any terrorists have become Australian citizens so this is a knee-jerk government reaction," she said.
Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia chairman Abd-Elmasih Malak said the Government must be careful not to overreact.
"There's no easy answer to the problem of terrorism, but more objective, rational thinking is needed rather than just a reaction to somebody's behaviour," Mr Malak said.
"We should be careful not to allow the criminals to dictate to us how we react."
The federation would be "happy to discuss any legitimate, fair and just process which ensures protection of the community's security but at the same time protects people's individual rights", Mr Malak said.
"I think it's time to think about alternative ideas to give a really comprehensive response," he said.
National Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said it was reasonable to extend the application period, but he was concerned the terms for refusal would be too broad.
"With citizenship applications being refused on security grounds, our concern is the wide and vague meaning of security," Mr O'Gorman said.
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