When Anthony John Abbott was born to an English father and a first-generation Australian mother at a general lying-in hospital in York Road, Lambeth, London, on 4 November 1957, his parents did not register him as an Australian infant born overseas or immediately apply for Australian citizenship on his behalf.
Presumably because at that time Richard and Fay Abbott thought they would be permanently living in England and raising a family there.
He therefore had only one official nationality status – as a British subject and citizen.
In fact it was not until over twenty years after the family had arrived in Australia as subsidised assisted migrants that Tony Abbott’s parents applied to register his birth with the Dept. of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs and apply for his citizenship, in a document/s dated 19 June 1981.
This application appears to have been treated as urgent by departmental staff.
His parents were subsequently informed in a letter dated 1 July 1981 that Anthony John Abbott was now deemed to be an Australian citizen under Section 11 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 which allowed citizenship by descent.
At this time Tony Abbott was 23 years and 7 months of age and, had either applied for a Rhodes Scholarship or was intending to apply for this scholarship to study at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Currently such applications must be applied for after 1 June in the year a Rhodes Scholarship is on offer.
To gain a Rhodes Scholarship an applicant has to be an Australian citizen and have been resident in Australia for at least five of the last ten years.
Tony Abbott was apparently intending to depart Australia on or about 10 July 1981 and, started his scholarship course at Queens College, Oxford, in October 1981.
One cannot escape the suspicion that the future Prime Minister of Australia only applied for Australian citizenship at that time in order to gain a monetary advantage which would allow him to further his studies overseas.
Which, if true, would make him a somewhat reluctant Aussie and perhaps go some way to explaining his strong admiration of the British monarchy and those anachronistic English titles he has re-introduced (without consultation with Cabinet or party room) into the Australian honours system.
Note: Immigration and citizenship information found at the National Archives of Australia.
UPDATE
There
is no National Archives record listed of Fay Abbott applying to register the
overseas birth of Tony Abbott’s sister, Jane Elizabeth Abbott (born on 25
January 1959 at Hammersmith, London U.K.) either in 1981 or any other year.
In June 1981 Jane Abbott would have been 22 years of age.
19 comments:
Why am I not surprised by this?
Clarencegirl,
Brilliant research - something that should go completely viral. Thank you so much.
Undeserving scrounger and conman, again.
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Appears Sir Abbott is actually taking out his own guilt on Aussies who have done something similar.
Which is what his gang does everyday on every issue.
Their hypocrisy is disgusting.
Really? Came to this country when he was a 2 year old, but for over 40% of his 57 years Abbott wasn't an Aussie citizen.Bet he didn't expect that to get out!
Here is the file from the National Archives of Australia, I got this in January and it has since disappeared from the site. http://tinypic.com/r/52grc5/8 And this shows that Mum gave up her citizenship to get the free boat trip home. http://tinypic.com/r/8vu4jo/8
The one thing I can't find out is when he gave up his British citizenship. He couldn't get a Rhodes Scholarship as a pommie, but he did and the panic for a passport made him get Aussie citizenship. But there is nowhere that shows he actually renounced his British citizenship before taking up the scholarship. So Rhodes gave a scholarship to a pom, and let him sit in Oxford as a dual national. Not allowed in their rules.
Tony,
My understanding is:
1. Mother's marriage did not negate her Australian citizenship. Possible that once she settled in England she applied for British citizenship as she had Welsh mother, but there is no proof to date and, from memory, nothing in original NAA record of assisted migration addressed citizenship;
2. The Rhodes Scholarship does allow dual citizenship applicants. However, they have to apply as citizens in the country they have permanent residence in;
3.Tony Abbott had to apply for Australian citizenship by descent through his mother who was an Australian citizen to become eligible for the scholarship; and
4.It is unclear if Tony Abbott renounced his British citizenship either at the time of becoming an Australian citizen, when he entered Parliament or if he still holds the second citizenship.
Does anyone know if Abbott has dual citizenship. If he renounced his British citizenship when? Thanks.
Step 1:
Google "Tony Abbott"
Step 2:
Under his picture below the search bar, click report
Step 3: Correct google: He is British.
Step 4: In the provided field, link to this web page.
Great work well done.
hope they strip him of his 2001 centennial medal as well
http://parliamentofthecommonwealth.com/
What is it with Tony and scholarships?
Forget the AEC Section 44 of our constitution says in part
44. Any person who
(i.) Is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights & privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power: or (other exemptions)
shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.
And I believe a FOI attempt on his RN form was blocked both here and in England
My question is...how did TA win a Rhodes scholarship with his "average" grades?
Word is Ba Santamaria paid for it!
miff.
Were he Australian born would he have sought as PM to make it a national priority to eliminate the near $Trillion debt at the Federal level for which a $Billion interest is paid in perpetuity every month ?
He wouldn't.
Any one replacing him right now, whichever of the front contenders you care to think of, would seek to shackle us still tighter to the debt corpse that is a banker fiction, by continually cutting back on social benefits to fund yet another looming bankers' war, this time against Syria. That it would bring in Iranians by the hundreds of thousands to result in the deaths of thousands of Australians, the bankers would only laugh at.
Why not simplify the system so that would be commenters don't have to be verified by google or wordpress or any of these filters and spooks ?
What they do is have the politically incorrect in a data base which blocks a comment associated with a no no name from going through.
Just name and email address and proof that we're not a robot is plenty, and your moderation.
His mother has a lot to answer for
He is gone now but not forgotten- a documentary should be made on this misguided ideologue.
It is quite clear the link between a staunch right wing Sydney University Student Representative Council advocate and a Professor of the same leaning was a primary element to have found favour in awarding a recommendation by Dyson Heydon for a Rhodes Scholarship. That final link was established and published in the SMH recently.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/dyson-heydon-was-on-panel-that-awarded-tony-abbott-his-prized-rhodes-scholarship-20150817-gj0o8o.html
Fortunately the Oxford MA academics showed no fear or favour with academic mediocrity for Abbott's study awarding a B- for Modern political Thought no less.
How he rose to be PM in Australia and the indignity that the country suffered under his leadership and Captain’s calls was a sad indictment of our times and we must not let this type of “dangerous “ person (as summed up by Malcom Fraser) run the country again. It was quite obvious that the position was beyond his capabilities.
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