By SAT News Desk
Melbourne,18 October: The Turnbull government today received a major setback with its proposed citizenship changes failing to pass in the Senate. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s last-minute failure to get Senate crossbench support killed the controversial citizenship changes.Hence current requirements for citizenship and those who plan to apply, will apply instead of the tough steps proposed by the government.
The Government had proposed to make Permanent Residents wait for 4 years instead of one, introduce university-level English tests and give more powers to the Immigration Minister.
The legislation was killed by the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team refusing to back the government or any dilution of the changes.
According to Guardian Australia Nick McKim, the Greens’ citizenship spokesman said,“Today, the people of Australia have shown what we can achieve when we stand together.”
“People who are working, studying and raising families in Australia can now get on with their lives and make choices about their future after they were so unfairly put on hold for months,” he said.
“The government can re-introduce the citizenship bill but will need Senate support to do so,” says an SBS report.
