ABSTRACT

The last decade has seen renewed academic interest in citizenship and the construction of an Australian identity, a growth which parallels increased public debate and government interest. Former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating made a major commitment in June 1995 to a renewed and refined idea of citizenship in his attempts to lead Australia towards being a republic, while the Liberal/National Federal Coalition Government elected in March 1996, committed to a return to conservative values, pledged to create a nation in which people could feel ‘secure’. The new Minister for Immigration was soon to

describe the act of citizenship as ‘the ultimate expression of a person’s commitment to the nation’ (Millett, 1996).