Australian Citizenship Day
Celebrating the Common Bond That Unites Us
Every year on 17 September, Australia celebrates Australian Citizenship Day — an opportunity for Australians, whether citizens by birth or by choice, to reflect on what citizenship means, celebrate our shared democratic values and recognise the common bond that unites us.
For Malak Foundation, Australian Citizenship Day is also an opportunity to celebrate something remarkable about Australia: people from extraordinarily different backgrounds, cultures, faiths and life experiences can come together and call the same country home.
Australia is one of the world's most culturally diverse nations. Since Australian citizenship was formally introduced in 1949, more than six million people have become Australian citizens.
Each of those journeys is different.
Some Australians can trace their families' connection to this land across generations. Some arrived decades ago seeking opportunity and a new beginning. Others came as migrants, refugees, students or professionals and eventually chose to make Australia their permanent home.
Yet citizenship gives us something in common.
More Than a Passport
Australian citizenship represents rights and privileges, but it also represents participation and responsibility.
The values associated with Australian citizenship include respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual, freedom of religion and speech, equality of opportunity, parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and the Australian principle of a fair go built around mutual respect, tolerance and compassion.
These principles help explain why Australia has been able to bring together people from hundreds of different cultural backgrounds while maintaining a strong shared national identity.
Our differences do not have to weaken that identity.
They can strengthen it.
A person can be proudly Sudanese-Australian, Indian-Australian, Chinese-Australian, Lebanese-Australian, Greek-Australian, Vietnamese-Australian, Indigenous Australian or from any of the many communities that make up modern Australia — while sharing the same responsibility to contribute positively to the country we call home.
Citizenship allows those identities to meet under one common commitment: Australia.
A History That Continues to Evolve
The first Australian citizenship ceremony took place in 1949. Seven men from seven different European countries became Australian citizens at that ceremony.
Australia has changed enormously since then.
A significant milestone occurred in 1973, when the legislation was renamed the Australian Citizenship Act and preferential treatment for British subjects was removed, moving citizenship further toward equal requirements regardless of national background.
Australian Citizenship Day itself was introduced in 2001, with 17 September selected because it marks the anniversary of that important 1973 change.
Today, citizenship ceremonies take place in communities across the country, with thousands of people each year making the commitment to become Australian citizens.
Behind every certificate is a personal story.
A first job.
A new friendship.
Children beginning school.
A family buying its first home.
A volunteer helping a neighbour.
A small business opening its doors.
A person discovering that somewhere once unfamiliar has gradually become home.
These ordinary stories are part of the extraordinary Australian story.
What Makes Australia Special
Australia is not perfect, and like every society it continues to confront challenges.
But Australian Citizenship Day gives us an opportunity to recognise what the country has achieved.
People who may have little in common culturally can live on the same street, work together, play sport together, attend university together, volunteer together and build communities together.
We can disagree strongly while remaining fellow Australians.
We can maintain our heritage while embracing a common civic identity.
We can practise different religions — or no religion — while respecting the freedom of others to do the same.
And someone who arrived in Australia yesterday can, over time, become just as committed to Australia's future as someone whose family has lived here for generations.
That is an achievement worth celebrating.
As the Department of Home Affairs describes it, Australian citizenship is “a common bond which unites all Australians while respecting our diversity.”
Citizenship Is Also Something We Practise
Citizenship is strengthened not only through ceremonies but through everyday behaviour.
It is demonstrated when we volunteer.
When we help a neighbour.
When we welcome somebody new.
When we listen to another person's experience.
When we participate constructively in our communities.
When we disagree respectfully.
And when we make sure another Australian feels that they belong.
The Australian Government encourages active citizenship through participation in community life, welcoming new citizens, supporting refugees, celebrating multicultural communities and being respectful and inclusive of others.
These may seem like small actions, but collectively they help shape the character of a nation.
Inclusive Voice: Every Australian Has a Story Worth Hearing
At Malak Foundation, this idea is closely connected to our Inclusive Voice initiative.
Inclusive Voice was created to encourage Australians to listen, share experiences and have constructive conversations about racism, belonging, identity and our diverse communities.
Australian Citizenship Day provides a perfect opportunity to extend that conversation.
We invite Australians from every background to visit Inclusive Voice and share what belonging in Australia means to them.
Your story might be about arriving in Australia.
It might be about growing up here.
It might be about your citizenship ceremony.
It might be about the people who welcomed you.
It might be about maintaining your culture while building a life in Australia.
Or it may simply answer one question:
What does being Australian mean to you?
Visit Inclusive Voice at inclusivevoice.org and add your voice to the conversation.
Because an inclusive Australia is created when Australians do more than live beside one another — we listen to one another.
One Country, Millions of Stories
Australian Citizenship Day reminds us that there is no single Australian story.
There are millions of them.
They begin in Melbourne, Darwin, Hobart and Perth.
They also begin in Khartoum, Mumbai, Beijing, Beirut, Athens, Kabul, London, Manila, Nairobi and countless other places around the world.
They include the world's oldest continuing cultures through Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and generations of Australians who have helped build the country we know today.
And every year, new stories are added.
What joins those stories together is not that everyone came from the same place.
It is the decision to build a future together.
On Australian Citizenship Day, Malak Foundation celebrates every Australian — by birth and by choice — and the extraordinary multicultural, democratic and welcoming country we continue to build together.
Let us celebrate our citizenship.
Let us celebrate our diversity.
Let us listen to each other's stories.
And above all, let us continue building an Australia where everyone who calls this country home has the opportunity to belong, contribute and receive a fair go.
Happy Australian Citizenship Day.
17 September — one citizenship, many stories, one Australia.
