Australia’s Citizenship Day, observed on 17 September, passed with little recognition despite its significance.
The date marks the anniversary of the 1973 renaming of the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 to the Australian Citizenship Act. Prior to this, those born in Australia or Commonwealth countries were considered British subjects, while others not born in Commonwealth countries could be naturalised to become British subjects.
The Act created Australian citizenship for all former British subjects and opened the path for foreign-born individuals to become Australian citizens.
The Act has since been amended several times and was superseded by the Australian Citizenship (Transitionals and Consequentials) Act 2007.
The Immigration Act, passed in 1948, facilitated large-scale post-war immigration, contributing to today’s 30% overseas-born population, with eight in ten born in non-English speaking countries.
Pearls and Irritations asked who the first ‘multicultural’ member of the federal Parliament was? They determined this to be Dr Richard Klugman, born in Vienna in 1924 to Polish parents, Klugman arrived in Australia in 1938, speaking no English. He excelled in his studies completing degrees in science and medicine at Sydney University. Elected as the Labor MP for Prospect in 1969, Klugman represented a rapidly diversifying electorate in south-west Sydney for over 20 years, retiring in 1990. A founding member of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, he remained a staunch advocate for human rights and civil liberties throughout his career.
Honouring Klugman with a statue in the Parliamentary Triangle would serve as a tribute to his pioneering role as one of the first naturalised Australians to enter Parliament.
It would stand alongside the statues of Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons, the first women elected to Parliament, and the forthcoming statue of Neville Bonner, the first Indigenous MP. Such a recognition would inspire reflection on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, highlighting the integral role migrants have played in shaping Australia's democratic landscape. It would also encourage future generations of migrants to become active citizens, and perhaps, like Klugman, aspire to represent their communities at the highest levels of government.
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