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A Papua New Guinean is calling for local support in his public awareness campaign to get Australian citizenship.
Jonathan Baure says the 1948 Citizenship Act made Papuans Australian citizens but his citizenship was revoked in 1975 when PNG gained independence.
Mr Baure says according to the Australian government Papua was part of Australia as defined by the citizenship act, but not by the migration act.
Mr Baure questions how a person can have citizenship and yet not have a right to residency in that country.
“It’s not for all Papuans to jump on the plane and go down to Australia. The principle that we were born Australian citizens and we should have the right of recognition to decide whether we wanted to continue to keep our Australian citizenship or hold dual citizenship between Papua New Guinea and Australia.” Jonathan Baure says the issue affects 1.5 million Papua New Guinea people.
