Aussie senator wants migrants to wait 8 years to become citizens

Senator Pauline Hanson, a divisive far right Aussie lawmaker who leads the One Nation political party, is proposing a law to increase the waiting period for permanent residents to eight years before they can apply to be Australian citizens.

Hanson, a senator in the Australian federal parliament who came to prominence for its divisive immigration policies, plans to introduce a private member’s bill to amend the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 and the Migration Act 1958,

Her move, which political observers believe would not cut ice with the majority lawmakers, comes amidst attempts by the government to increase the waiting period from the current one year to four years.

Such a move, if passed, would impact those already awaiting for their citizenship.

The SBS Punjabi report quoted Mohit Pandit, an Indian national who moved to Australia in 2013 and recently completed his PhD in marketing, as saying: “It will demoralise people like me who have already spent such a long time in Australia. Permanent residents are not considered for most of the government jobs, in fact for many private sector jobs too.”

In August 2017, the leader of the Aussie right wing party entered the Senate chamber wearing a black burqa in a stunt to ban the religious garment, citing national security concerns.

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