wombatinabox

Hi Folks, Important reminder, The following Senators will be the main deciding factor if this Citizenship Bill goes ahead or rejected. So if you are affected by this bill, without delay make sure you email the following senators with your story and opposition to this bill and ask them to reject the bill: 1. Nick Xenophon (Team Xenophon Party) senator.xenophon@aph.gov.au 2. Stirling Griff (Team Xenophon Party) senator.griff@aph.gov.au 3. Skye Kakoschke-Moore (Team Xenophon Party) senator.kakoschke-moore@aph.gov.au 4. Derryn Hinch (Justice Party) senator.hinch@aph.gov.au 5. Lucy Gichuhi (Independent) senator.gichuhi@aph.gov.au Points you can mention (Retrospective/backdating nature of this Bill, Applications freeze since April20, extra 4 years wait for non-PR, English level 6 test, extra votes they can win by rejecting this bill from near-future citizens, new powers for Minister to override courts, any other stuff affecting you, etc ) I have personally received responses from all of these Senators, spoke to some of them and in some cases their policy assistants, who all confirmed that they are leaning towards rejecting or watering down the bill but haven't made a decision yet (on the fence), continued pressure from the public like yourselves will help steer them in the right direction. I have also been in touch with Labour and Greens Reps & senators who are united in strongly opposing the bill. In addition, it also helps contacting your local MP and State Senator (regardless of Party), you can find them using the following tool: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members I hope most of you got the time to email the Senate committee with your submissions, these submissions will be reviewed by the Senate: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au (Deadline July 21st ) Keep up the pressure, we can do it!

Hi Folks, Not good news for the citizenship laws, we just lost 2 Greens in the senate. That means 2 less votes unless the issue is resolved and replacement happens before next session! http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/larissa-waters-to-resign-from-senate-over-citizenship/8720066 Makes it even more important for everyone here to keep the pressure on Team Xenophon and other senators leaning towards rejecting the bill. You will find the full details in a previous post of mine on who to contact.

Read about this yesterday, essentially making Dutton the most powerful politician in the country. Too much centralised power for one person. Brandis not happy obviously since he loses all his power. http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/peter-dutton-to-take-control-of-new-super-security-portfolio/news-story/d2478f80777633800924768e029ff357 The plan also includes outsourcing immigration to private entities (VFS global?)

"Citizenship should be decided on the content of character, not English superiority" Article by Herald Sun: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/theo-theophanous-english-tests-for-australian-citizenship-will-do-nothing-to-help-migrants/news-story/1aeead0db2ed14f1e5a49fafe344fb64

Thanks for doing that mate and updating us, it's important to keep the pressure on our MPs and Senators. Hope everyone involved here does the same.

That number is a bit old, the backlog is now actually 100,000+ and growing rapidly because people are rushing to put in their apps hoping they'll be processed under old rules. In any case (regardless of what happens with the bill) post-April 20 applications we are looking at a very long Citizenship processing time (1 year+) as opposed to 3-6 months in the past. This whole mess created by the Minister is unnecessary.

Hi Folks, Just a reminder, in addition to emailing the senators i mentioned in my earlier post. Don't forget to make your submission to the Parliament using the below link. The submissions close on July 21st so do it asap. These submissions are actually taken seriously and properly analysed by the Senate's constitutional legal experts, (unlike what happened with the DIBP submissions which were thrown out by the minister) http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/CitizenshipBill2017

Don't worry mate, they do read the emails. Don't be discouraged or let anyone discourage you. All the senators I quoted have responded to me. Infact I had a great conversation on the phone with Nick Xenophon's assistant who was following up on my email. But we need to keep the pressure on if we are to win this. Even if they don't respond to you at the very least the message gets across. The situation with your wife will be resolved if this bill is thrown out or the worst parts of it removed.

Hi Folks, An update, i've been busy emailing senators and house members to persuade them to be on our side and i've been researching the political game involved, so to make it easy for everyone here: 1. All 9 Greens Senators are united in throwing out this bill entirely (i've contacted all of them all they are consistent) 2. Tony Burke assured me that Labor is also united in opposing this bill or atleast the following aspects (English Test, backdating/retrospective aspect, new powers for Immigration Minister to override courts). 3. Nick Xenophon Team are still on the fence but they are leaning towards opposing the bill especially the backdating/retrospective aspect and the English test, new minister powers. Having said that he still needs persuading from the public as he hasn't taken a position yet. So now the decision and balance of power for the citizenship Bill pretty much comes down to the following Senators who are on the fence/leaning towards opposing: 1. Nick Xenophon (Team Xenophon Party) senator.xenophon@aph.gov.au 2. Stirling Griff (Team Xenophon Party) senator.griff@aph.gov.au 3. Skye Kakoschke-Moore (Team Xenophon Party) senator.kakoschke-moore@aph.gov.au 4. Derryn Hinch (Justice Party) senator.hinch@aph.gov.au 5. Lucy Gichuhi (Independent) senator.gichuhi@aph.gov.au Everyone here affected must email these Senators asap with your story and opposition to this bill and ask these senators to reject the bill (or parts of it that most affect you). We need as many people as possible persuading these senators.

Hi mate You have a Max 1 year out of the 4 years to be out of Australia. So you'll have a further 6 months once your back, you should be fine. In any case hopefully the new rules are thrown out at the senate, so you might not wait that long anyway.

I was the one who discussed that idea here sometime back after I consulted with a migration lawyer who confirmed the application freeze can easily be thrown out by the high courts if challenged since the minister doesnt actually have the power to blanket freeze citizenship applications. Only challenge is getting it lodged which is not cheap. Unfortunately in Australia there aren't many powerful or large immigrant organisations orgs that protect immigrants (like the usa for example) so resources are limited. The gofundme is a great idea, hopefully it gains enough traction to meet the target and we can get this freeze thrown out.

Correct, that part is not changing.

Thats correct under the new proposed rules. If you don't like these rules, then follow the instructions posted above to email reps and senators to fight this bill and throw it out.

That was a disgrace how they threw out all the DIBP submissions and went ahead with what they wanted anyway. Definitely worth making a submission to the parliamentary committee. I'm making one right now

Hi mate, What I did is search all the senators in my state and I emailed them I'm in Victoria so I used this page. You can use the search bar enter your post code and it shows you the senators in your state. http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian_Search_Results?q=&sta=VIC&sen=1&par=-1&gen=0&ps=10’ In addition contact cross bench senators (such as Xenophon) who we need to persuade to throw out this bill or at the very least adjust the worst parts of it.

Just a reminder folks, everyone affected by this, it is your duty to do the following: 1. Make sure you submit your story and objections to Tony Burke of the Labour party here https://www.tonyburke.com.au/get-active/citizenshippetition 2. Search for your local MP and senator using this website http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members and email them to reject the new proposed changes. 3. And finally Nick Xenophon is leaning towards opposing this bill. He is a powerful senator and often holds the balance of power in terms of decisions. We need to persuade him to oppose this bill, email him here https://nick.nxtmps.org.au/contact/

There are no restrictions on travel. After you've met your requirements that's it. You will get comms by email and mail

In the end, you'll have potentially 700K future Citizens who will never ever vote for Liberal Party. This experience will leave such a bitter taste. Not just those who already have PR but those who came in work visas now realising they will have to burn through more of their lives to gain citizenship. Labour will gain huge number of future votes if they strongly opposed these changes.

We all here predicted this, expect the backlog to double, triple the longer it takes for these new laws (hopefully thrown out) Either way we are looking at an extended wait for all post April 20 apps, most likely between 1-2 years as opposed to 6 months in the past. Very unfortunate

Depends on the job, the state and the department. Some gov jobs are open for PR

Good work mate, Nick Xenophon is a powerful member, good to keep him on our side. Everyone else affected by this, it is your duty Make sure you submit your story and objections to Tony Burke of the Labour party here https://www.tonyburke.com.au/get-active/citizenshippetition Also search for your local MP and senator using this website http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members and email them to reject the new proposed changes.

Hi Folks, Make sure you submit your story and objections to Tony Burke of the Labour party here https://www.tonyburke.com.au/get-active/citizenshippetition Also search for your local MP and senator using this website http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members and email them to reject the new proposed changes.

So you applied after April 20 and got an exception by complaining to your MP? That's amazing, this clearly means there is no legal basis for the application freeze by Dutton. I wonder if anyone can do this, I suggest everyone to speak to their MP and see if you can get your application unfroze / processed under old rules.

This thing can easily get delayed till end 2017 - 2018. Most of the frustration is due to the app freeze and back dating. In the end we suffer because our lives are on hold.

As long as they are fighting in parliament it might mean more delay and current apps will continue to be frozen. Unless they come to an agreement let's see what happens