New Australians welcomed at citizenship ceremony

AUSTRALIA gained 24 new citizens earlier this month as the Wonthaggi Workers Club hosted Bass Coast’s second citizenship ceremony for the year.

The event ran from 3.30pm to 5.30pm with around 60 people in attendance to witness the ceremony including friends and family of the new citizens.

Among those taking the pledge were individuals and families representing 15 different countries.

The United Kingdom was the most represented with seven new citizens followed closely by New Zealand which had six.

Other origin countries included Thailand and Vietnam among those welcomed on the afternoon.

Bass Coast Mayor Rochelle Halstead led the ceremony and described it as one of her favourite duties as Mayor.

“Many of you bring incredible stories, and all of you have enormous courage moving your lives to a new country,” she said.

“This diversity and coming together is what makes our community.”

Also in attendance was Federal Member for Monash Mary Aldred who delivered a message on behalf of the Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke before addressing the crowd herself.

“Australia welcomes you as a full member of one of the most diverse nations on Earth,” she said.

However not all of those taking the pledge were new to Australia as among them was John Adamson who decided to finally become a citizen after living in Australia for more than five decades.

Originally from England Mr Adamson arrived in 1974 as an 11-year-old boy and said becoming a citizen was not necessarily something he had prioritised.

“When you’ve been here since you were a kid, you don’t really think about it too much,” he said.

“But I thought that before I die, I best do something about this and change it,” he said with a laugh.

Mr Adamson was joined at the ceremony by his wife Anne-Marie and his son Josh as he took the final formal step in becoming an Australian citizen.