Origin countries of new Australians revealed as Burke defends citizenship bonanza
The countries the more than 12,500 new Australians under Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s mass citizenship extravaganza have come from can be revealed.
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India tops the list as the most popular origin country for more than 12,500 new Australians under Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s mass citizenship extravaganza, which one Coalition frontbencher has labelled an “industrial-scale seat stacking” exercise.
Thousands of migrants are becoming new Australians in a three-day citizenship bonanza at Olympic Park this weekend, with Australian Electoral Commission officials on hand telling new citizens to “enrol to vote”.
The new Australians are among 12,852 people becoming citizens in time to vote.
The Saturday Telegraph can now reveal the full list of countries from where those new citizens entered Australia.
India is the origin of the largest number of new citizens with 2,365. New Zealand is next, with 1,929 Kiwis taking the pledge of commitment to become Australians. The United Kingdom is third.
The Philippines, mainland China, Nepal, Iraq, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka round out the top 10
There are no Palestinians among the list of people getting their citizenship in time to vote.
A massive screen at Olympic Park on Friday advised new citizens of their responsibility to vote, and eight AEC officials were “working the crowd,” one attendee said.
On Sky News, senior Opposition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie accused Labor of “industrial-scale seat stacking” by fast-tracking citizenship ceremonies for people living in marginal Western Sydney seats.
Speaking from Homebush, where thousands of citizenship certificates were being conferred, Mr Burke denied “fast-tracking” citizenships.
Mr Bourke accused mayors complaining about the mass citizenship extravaganza of having a “whinge”.
“What we had was a huge backlog, and different councils weren’t having enough ceremonies,” he said.
Mr Burke said that one council had 700 people “on their books” and still hadn’t allocated a citizenship ceremony.
“That’s not fair,” Mr Burke said.
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun on Thursday said there was no backlog in his area, but said the department had fast-tracked new citizenship applications.
On Sky News, senior Opposition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie accused Labor of “industrial-scale seat stacking” in Western Sydney.
The Telegraph spoke to a number of new citizens who made their commitment to Australia on Friday and who were all supportive of their citizenship being fast-tracked.
Martina Garbeska had lived in Australia for five years before becoming citizen and thanked her husband for helping her.
Ms Garbeska was much like a lot of new citizens this masthead spoke to who were excited to now have the ability to “decide” their countries future.
Obada Twaish said he was looking forward to learning more about the Australian political landscape, but was thankful to Mr Burke for the ceremony.
Mr Twaish arrived on a boat from Syria 14 years ago and discovered a completely “different country” with freedom and the ability to talk about “whatever you want”.
Meryem Baptist came from Morocco and declared she was “proud to be Australian”.
However, she admitted she needed to “do more research” ahead of the federal election.
Mr Burke was on Friday planning to attend a $100-per-head fundraiser for Fowler candidate Tu Le in Canley Heights.
The Home affairs minister was listed as the guest of honour for the event.
One source suggested it was odd for Mr Burke to be the highest billing attendee at the fundraiser.
They noted that Fowler is a seat with a high number of migrants and new citizens.
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