Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Amphitheatre, Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Thank you, Sneha.^[1]

Thank you to Walangari Karntawarra and the Diramu Aboriginal Dance and Didgeridoo performers^, for your welcome to Country.

I, too, acknowledge the Burramattagal and Wangal, Traditional Owners of the land we gather on today and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging of the many lands across our State for their continuing care and custodianship of lands, seas and waters.

• Mr Hasan Sowaid, Regional Director NSW/ACT, Department of Home Affairs
• Ms Donna Davis, State Member for Parramatta
• Councillor Martin Zaiter, Lord Mayor of Parramatta
• Mr John Bennett, Royal Agricultural Society President, and Councillors
• Representatives from the Department of Home Affairs
• Distinguished guests all, and, most importantly, those who, today, become citizens of Australia.

Today is a special day for Australia, as we celebrate the 206 individuals who, having come to our country have taken the decision to become Australian citizens You have come ‘from across the seas’ to our country ‘with its boundless plains to share – as our National Anthem tells us.

Today is also, I am sure, a special day for each of today’s conferees, their families and friends at this citizenship ceremony held here at the 2025 Sydney Royal Easter Show, with its own proud, more than 200-year history. 

You are already part of the bigger story of our nation having chosen to come here and now to become citizens of our this country with its history of 65,000 years of continuous civilisation and culture. The Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country has welcomed you into this history.

The step you have taken in deciding to become an Australian citizen is now also part of your personal history. Becoming a citizen of what is now your country is an important legal act,^[2] creating a common bond which unifies us as Australians.^[3]

Our country of nearly 27 million people includes the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who speak more than 150 languages.^[4] Their flags are officials flags of our country and fly proudly beside our national flag.  They are the flags we stood before as we sang our national anthem: 'Advance Australian Fair'. 

Our country - your country - includes people from 300 different ancestries,^[5] and almost as many language backgrounds whose diverse traditions and customs are a valued and celebrated part of our Australian way of life.  

Our two young award-winning poets have recited their beautiful poems today in the tradition of Australian poet AB (Banjo) Paterson who penned such famous bush ballads as Clancy of the Overflow, The Man from Snowy River, and the iconic Waltzing Matilda, which remind us of the harsh beauty and majesty of this land. 

Banjo Paterson’s later poem, We Are All Australians Now, written in 1915 to honour the Australians fighting in Gallipoli and the Dardanelles, finishes with the words:

"And with Australia's flag shall fly
A spray of wattle bough,
To symbolise our unity, We're all Australians now.”^[6]

Those words, written in a different context and in a different era, continue to ring true. Our strength lies in this sense of unity in our diversity.   We are all Australians.

The freedoms, protections, opportunities and responsibilities of Australian citizenship, include the democratic right to vote in an election. While the Federal electoral register is now closed for the upcoming Federal election,  the NSW election will be upon us in two years’ time.^[7]  I not only encourage you to vote, ensuring that as citizens you have your say in how you wish to be governed and by whom, I also remind you have a legal obligation to enrol to vote, as well as to vote on polling day in our Federal, State and Local elections.  As US President, John F Kennedy once said: “an election is the best barometer of popular will in a democracy.”^[8] 

By participating in our democratic processes, volunteering to contribute to your local communities, and through your embrace and reflection of the values of our community, based on “freedom, respect, fairness and equality of opportunity”^[9] – or as we like to say: “a fair go for all” - we will continue to build a peaceful, prosperous, creative and vibrant Australia.

Today, I am honoured to convey the welcome and best wishes of all Australians as you “pledge your commitment to Australia and accept the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship.”^[10]

We now commence the formal part of the Citizenship Ceremony, which is conducted in accordance with the Australian Citizenship Act 2007. As part of the legal requirements for the citizenship ceremony, I will read the Preamble from schedule 1 of the Australian Citizenship Regulation 2016.

"Australian citizenship represents full and formal membership of the community of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Australian citizenship is a common bond, involving reciprocal rights and obligations, uniting all Australians, while respecting their diversity.

Persons on whom Australian citizenship is conferred enjoy these rights and undertake to accept these obligations:

(a) by pledging loyalty to Australia and its people;

(b) by sharing their democratic beliefs; 

(c) by respecting their rights and liberties; and

(d) by upholding and obeying the laws of Australia."

It is my pleasure to invite conferees to make the citizenship pledge. It is a legal requirement that conferees say the pledge aloud.

At registration you were given a pledge card. The card has two pledge options, pledge 1 and pledge 2 - one on each side.

Pledge 1 has the words “under god” in the first line, whereas pledge 2 does not. The words ‘under god’ are optional.

I will read the pledge with the words ‘under god’, however you do not need to repeat these words if you do not wish to do so.

I would now like to ask all conferees to please stand, if you are able, to recite the pledge. If you would like to hold a holy book, please hold it in your hands now:

Please repeat your preferred pledge, line by line, after me:

"From this time forward, under god, 

I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, 

Whose democratic beliefs I share, 

Whose rights and liberties I respect, 

And whose laws I will uphold and obey."

Congratulations, you are now Australian citizens. Please be seated.

Please join me in welcoming our new citizens.  

[1] Ms Sneha Chatterjee, Acting First Assistant Secretary, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Department of Home Affairs

[2] Australian Citizenship Act 2007

[3] Australian Citizenship Act 2007 Preamble.

[4] 2021 Census:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/language-statistics-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/latest-release

[5] 2021 Census:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/detailed-methodology-information/information-papers/understanding-and-using-ancestry-data

[6] Last verse: https://allpoetry.com/'We're-All-Australians-Now'

[7] 2027

[8] John F Kennedy, Why England Slept, 1940

[9] https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/what-does-it-mean

[10] ibid