It's not widely known by the public living in Australia, that a vulnerable group of New Zealand citizens live amongst them and consider Australia their home. Welcomed into Australia, only to have the door to Australian citizenship slammed shut.
Australia and New Zealand have had arrangements in place since the 1920s to facilitate a free flow of people between the two countries to reside and work. New Zealand citizens and Australian citizens were considered permanent residents in each others countries and could apply for citizenship after a few years if they wished.
In February 2001, the Howard government introduced a 'bilateral agreement', which in reality is more of a 'unilateral' (one way) 'disagreement', as the New Zealand government did not approve of it.
New Zealand citizens arriving in Australia since February 2001 are on non-protected Special Category Visas and considered 'temporary visitors', indefinitely - an oxymoron...
I am not sure how I think it should be........ part of me says it is ok but then when I read about how it affects families, I think it is wrong.
On the other hand, I have 2 grandaughter.... one born in Australia, her mum born in the UK but lived here since aged 4. This grandaughter is both British and Australian citizen.
The other was born in UK, mum Australian, dad NZ but Aus citizen. She does not qualify for British Citizenship.
