Coalition senator fills in for Burke at citizenship ceremonies slammed by Dutton

Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle addressed a Home Affairs citizenship ceremony to welcome new Australians on the same day that her party colleagues continued a political attack on the federal government events by suggesting they were vote grabs for Labor before the election.

Liddle spoke at a citizenship ceremony organised by the Department of Home Affairs in Adelaide on Friday, where she said she would deliver a message on behalf of Labor’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke “in the bipartisan spirit”.

Senator Kerrynne Liddle says she has attended many of these ceremonies. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Liberal shadow minister’s appearance came as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Deputy Leader Sussan Ley implied Burke was using the department-run citizenship ceremonies to add more voters in key seats to benefit Labor at the election.

Home Affairs is holding 25 citizenship events across the country by March 4, adding about 12,800 new citizens who will then be eligible to enrol to vote. Burke has attended some of the ceremonies held at Sydney Olympic Park.

Ley on Friday said that questions needed to be asked on the issue of “rushed citizenship ceremonies in western Sydney”, after Dutton on Thursday accused Labor of fast-tracking citizenship to win votes in marginal seats and suggested the government had sidestepped security checks for those people.

“Some of these certificates are being handed out personally by Tony Burke, the minister, in his own seat. I really hope he’s not using public funds to benefit himself politically over this,” Ley said on Seven’s Sunrise program.

Dutton told Nine’s Today show that “they’re obviously trying to put people into marginal seats and there’s this branch stacking allegation going on, so I just think [the government should provide] transparency and tell us what you’re doing”.

The previous day, he said it was “quite remarkable” to hold so many citizenship ceremonies before an election and suggested that processes, including security checks, had been slackened.

“They’re obsessed with the Green vote, and they’re worried about losing seats. Without being political about it, but let’s be frank about the motivation. A couple hundred votes could swing an outcome, and will in the coming election.”

Burke has defended the department-held ceremonies, which are additional to typical council events, saying they were designed to eliminate backlogs in local government areas. He also said there was nothing out of the ordinary about him attending the events himself.

“When councils conduct ceremonies, they do it as delegates of the citizenship minister. The Citizenship Act in fact presumes the minister would conduct ceremonies,” Burke said.

At the event in Adelaide on Friday, it was Liddle who spoke on behalf of Burke. “It’s a pleasure to be here today and to see all of you, our soon-to-be newest Australians,” she said, according to a video of the event supplied to this masthead.

“In the spirit, the bipartisan spirit, as the Liberal Senator for South Australia, as you heard, I’m giving this statement on behalf of the honorable Tony Burke MP.”

She then went on to read Burke’s statement.

Liddle told this masthead she attended one of three ceremonies held in Adelaide on Friday and had attended others in the past. She said she was asked to assist because no Labor MP was available, and that local councillors were present but did not get to speak.

“As part of the event, these lucky new Australians were advised that they had a barcode in their packs to register to vote. One of the people who used the barcode said the whole process took just 15 minutes,” she said.

“The process of awarding citizenship should never be politicised for partisan advantage as Peter Dutton has rightly said.

“There is nothing controversial about an MP attending a citizenship ceremony... What is questionable is why this ceremony was so different in the way it was conducted, but [it was] good to share in the moment with our newest Australians.”

Burke denied fast-tracking any processes or targeting specific seats in an interview on Sky News on Friday. “We had a huge backlog of people who were entitled to have these citizenship ceremonies and different councils weren’t having enough ceremonies. So, we’re making sure that we deal with a huge backlog,” he said.

“One council had 700 people wanting to get allocated to their ceremonies and they weren’t holding the ceremonies. So, you know, this is a good opportunity. I have no idea which way these individuals are going to vote.

“They’re people who want to make a pledge of commitment to Australia. They’ll be in all sorts of seats. A whole lot of them will be in safe Liberal seats. I don’t care. They want to make a pledge of commitment to Australia. They’re entitled to do so. I’m not going to let any council hold that back.”

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