A good day for Kiwis in Australia

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The Australian government could not have found a better way to mark Anzac Day tomorrow than its long overdue decision to re-establish a direct pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders.

Since 2001, Kiwis in Australia have resided there on a special category visa which allows them to remain indefinitely, but getting permanent residency and citizenship has been extremely difficult.

New Zealanders have been unable to access benefits such as student loans, join the defence force or even vote — a direct opposite to the 70,000 Australians living in New Zealand who have a clear pathway to citizenship after five years.

From July 1, New Zealanders on the special category visa who have lived in Australia for four years will be able to get citizenship after passing character and language checks and attending a citizenship ceremony.

Even better, the pathway is retrospective. People who have been in Australia since 2001 will be able to apply for citizenship without gaining permanent residence first. And Kiwi children born in Australia will become citizens at birth rather than having to wait until they are 10.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins described it as a “blimmin’ good day” for New Zealanders living in Australia, before flying to Brisbane to mark Anzac Day and celebrate 40 years since the Closer Economic Agreement between the two countries was signed.

A change in government, with Labor’s Anthony Albanese taking over in May last year, is one of the main factors behind the decision . . .no doubt along with Australia’s own tight labour market. And that is the one downside to the announcement — the risk of increasing the brain drain to Australia where about 700,000 Kiwis live.

One area where New Zealand won’t want to see that happening is nursing. Protesting nurses in this country held signs saying they would go to Australia if conditions did not improve. Already about 10 percent of Australia’s nursing workforce are New Zealanders and 5000 more have registered to work in Australia.

The other great thorn in the side of the transtasman relationship, the deporting of criminals born in New Zealand but with little if any links with this country, remains although the number being deported has reduced significantly since an agreement in July last year when Albanese said they would adopt a “common sense approach”.

Those cavils aside, it really was a good day for Kiwi Aussies which has been a long time coming.