Information about the Inquiry

Inquiry into Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Testing) Bill 2007

Information about the Inquiry

Download this document (PDF 15KB)

On 13 June 2007, the Senate referred the provisions of the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Testing) Bill 2007 to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for inquiry and report by 31 July 2007.

The Bill amends the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (the Act) to provide for the testing of prospective applicants for Australian citizenship by conferral. Specifically, the Bill will require applicants for Australian citizenship by conferral under the general eligibility provisions (subsection 21(2) of the Act) to have successfully completed a citizenship test, before making an application, in order to be eligible to become Australian citizens.

The Committee invites written submissions which should be sent to:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

The closing date for submissions is Friday, 6 July 2007.

Persons lodging submissions should note that this inquiry is into the bill only, and to be considered relevant to the inquiry, submissions must address the provisions of the bill.

The Committee requests that where possible, submissions should also be provided by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au, preferably as MS Word or RTF format documents. Notes to assist in preparing submissions are available from the website https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm or telephone the Secretariat on 02 6277 3560, fax: 02 6277 5794, or e-mail at the above address.

Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it is not protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02 6277 7799). Adobe also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a committee inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretary.

If you need any further information, contact the Committee Secretariat on +61 2 6277 3560 (phone), +61 2 6277 5794 (fax); or by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au or by writing to the Committee secretary at the above address.

For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone: +61 2 6277 3560
Fax: +61 2 6277 5794
Email: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au