Changes in Citizenship Requirements

[cubanpete]

Hi,

I am trying to work out the legal position of what the government has proposed in the citizenship changes from one to four years on a permanent resident visa.

The bill has been given its second reading and parliament does not sit again until early August. The government state that any applications from 20th April 2017, the date they have a press release, would not be processed under the current legislation. As the bill was only submitted to the house and had its second reading in mid June they do not believe it will inserted into legislation until the end of 2017.

Can the government change terms of legislation without is passing both houses and made into law?

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

No, but quite often the manner in which they process things is separate to the legal requirements of how they process them. Legislation isn't prescriptive to the nth degree, otherwise it quickly can become unworkable. Also, the cost of making even a slight change to legislation for every little thing would be massive and bog the parliament down.