NEW policy for Kiwis living in Australia will allow Julie Ansell’s grand-children to become citizens. Jayna-Maree Nicholson-Kopa, Kaaliyah-Breeze Kopa-Wi, Aria-Unique Kopa-Wi and TeManawanui Panapa-Wi are pictured here on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. PHOTOS SUPPLIED
Kiwis in Australia now have straightforward access to Australian citizenship – previously “impossible” for most.
The news is significant for many in the King Country with family across the Tasman. The changes from July 1 reverse immigration policy in place since 2001.
New Zealanders will not first need permanent residency before applying for citizenship.
Those in vulnerable positions will benefit most: workers facing redundancy, those affected by natural disasters, women in violent relationships and children with disabilities. They will now get Government support assuming they were granted citizenship.
Rangatahi will also gain from the move. They would now pay domestic fees for university education, and Australian-born babies of New Zealand parents will automatically become citizens.
Erina Morunga, an Australia-based migration agent who works with a “99% Kiwi” caseload had not expected the positive changes to be so comprehensive.
“I never thought that they would go this far,” Erina said, referring to the Australian politicians who brought in the changes.
“Kiwis are very excited.”
Several locally born Kiwis told King Country News their stories.
Speaking from her Brisbane home, Ruia Kopa from Te Kūiti said she moved to Australia in 2019 after spending some years moving between the King Country and Hamilton caring for her mother.
She plans to apply for citizenship on July 1 – the earliest possible date – for herself and her girls.
“It’s more opportunities for my kids. There are a lot of benefits.”
Previously, their lack of access to a citizenship pathway in their country of residence had made a “huge” difference to their lives.
“My daughter is autistic, and we don’t get National Disability Insurance Scheme funding. That [would otherwise] help with her speech therapy, her OT therapy … and a teacher aide at school.
“She’s required to have one throughout the whole day, but we don’t receive that funding.”
“Sometimes she has to go without [treatments, like speech therapy] because I can’t afford it [one] month.
“When we all become citizens, it will change hugely. She will be entitled to a lot more. Obviously, we all will be entitled to a lot more.
“It’s going to help us so much.”
During Covid, Ruia and her family experienced hard times, specifically due to the previous immigration policy.
“I was laid off. I was working in customer service. So, the place that I was at, they had to shut their doors and I was without work, without pay obviously.
“That’s how come I ended up cleaning for myself.”
As a solo mum, Ruia had no other family members to help: her closest family lived in Adelaide.
“It’s just me here at the moment. Me and my kids … no one else here to support me. It has been tough.
“Some weeks we were eating just noodles.
“If we get citizenship and something does happen like that again, we’ll be okay.”
Te Kūiti-born Julie Ansell has lived on the Gold Coast since 2010. She and husband Shane lived in the US and Auckland before crossing the ditch where it was cheaper to live, and the pay was higher, Julie said.
“And it’s always sunny here.”
During Covid, things had been hard for Kiwis around her.
“The Australian government was giving people a living allowance … when we had lockdown, Kiwis were initially excluded. So, there was a lot of Kiwis here doing it bloody tough.”
“I’ve seen so many Kiwi families struggle.”
She said she would apply for Australian citizenship as soon as possible, for two reasons: firstly, it would allow her to retrain as a nurse. It would also allow her grandson, Mana, who was on the spectrum, to be supported with his special needs – if he too became a citizen.
“He gets nothing” at the moment, she said.
The Australian Department of Home Affairs said the changes came out of a meeting between former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian PM Anthony Albanese.
“At the 2022 Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting … both agreed that no New Zealander or Australian should be rendered permanently “temporary” when it comes to residence in either country.”
Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Clare O’Neil MP, said Australians and New Zealanders “share a special bond.”
“It’s important that we reflect that in the way we treat New Zealand citizens who choose to make Australia home.
“The changes will strengthen ties with our closest neighbour, and will mean the many people already living and working in our communities can enjoy the benefits of citizenship.”
The Australian Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, described the changes as “only fair.”
“It is only fair the opportunity to become an Australian citizen is made easier for our closest friends and allies.”
King Country News spoke to an Australian immigration department worker off the record, who said that even staff in the department had been surprised by the announcement.
“It was news to us as well – we’d heard rumours, but we didn’t know it was going to happen.”
Immigration experts in Australia welcomed the changes.
Migration agent Erina Morunga has lived in Australia since 2007, based in Naracoorte, a small town in South Australia, where she moved with her husband “on a hunch” after spending time with fellow Kiwis there.
She has campaigned for New Zealanders’ rights in Australia for 10 years.
“I started out trying to help myself, my own children actually. I’ve got five children and I just wanted them to have security.
“I wanted them to be able to access higher education. They were young. Some of them were teenagers when we moved here.
“I had absolutely no idea at that point that we could not even apply for citizenship … I had no idea that the visa we did hold was a temporary visa, and that there was virtually no pathway to citizenship. I had no understanding of immigration full stop.
“I think this is a common trait with New Zealanders coming to Australia.”
Because Kiwis could come freely, they had no opportunity to learn about their immigration status as would happen with a more detailed visa application.
“New Zealanders come over to Australia completely and utterly in the dark.
“They somehow expected New Zealanders to absorb this knowledge and knowing from the atmosphere.”
Erina said the rules that applied to New Zealanders in past decades were intended to apply to tourists, not people who may even have been born in Australia.
The issues for Kiwis had been “very difficult.”
“You name it, I’ve heard it. Everything. Everything from domestic violence to disability to education to accessing student loans to emergency housing to youth displacement.
“[New Zealanders] can’t access support. So, say a woman is in a domestic violent relationship. She finds it very difficult to escape the relationship because she can’t access help from a women’s refuge, and she can’t access single parent payments.”
When advocates had raised it with politicians “it was always in the too hard basket,” even though they were predominantly taxpayers with the highest employment rate of any group, including Australians, according to the immigration department’s own data, she said.
She put this down to the fact that they couldn’t vote and were therefore an easy political target.
After years of campaigning on the issue, Erina was “absolutely blindsided” when the changes came through so comprehensively.
She said Australian politicians Clare O’Neil, Amanda Rishworth and Jim Chalmers had all been “outspoken” about New Zealanders’ rights when they were in opposition.
“When the Labour government were voted in, and those three people were given key positions, I was really optimistic that they were going to do something.”
She had become frustrated by people who had said to Kiwis, “why don’t you just take out citizenship.”
“It was impossible for most New Zealanders to apply for a permanent visa because they just didn’t meet criteria.”
Among the few exceptions were those with an Australian citizen partner.
The changes have had a big impact on Erina’s business.
“I have not stopped working since the changes were announced … in the first week we got over 2000 inquiries. We got hammered.
“Kiwis are very excited. Very afraid that if they don’t jump in things could change again.”
She said the Kiwis might get a “rude awakening”; the application process would still be complex to a degree.
Australia’s immigration department told King Country News the change “reflects the close ties between our two nations and highlights the positive contribution New Zealand citizens make to Australia. It also provides greater reciprocity in relation to entitlement to services.”
Applicants with disabilities and long-term health conditions would likely not be treated differently.
New Zealanders on this pathway are unlikely to have to meet Australia’s stringent immigration health requirement criteria, because that process takes place during visa applications, not citizenship applications.
Applicants usually have to meet requirements around their time of residence in Australia. However, these would be backdated for Kiwis.
Kiwis will still have to sit the citizenship test (which is straightforward) and also meet character requirements, which will affect those with criminal convictions.
