First the citizenship legislation was listed for Tuesday. As the day went by, it became clear the impending debate over the changes proposed to citizenship bill would roll over to Wednesday.
It is past noon and yet there is no sign of it.
Youth and family worker Aneesh Benzi, who lives with his wife and child in Melbourne, is quite nervous and has been keeping a close eye on what is going on in the parliament.
“Every 30 mins, I am checking if there is any update in relation to citizenship bill and I ring my wife to check the news,” he told SBS Hindi.
Even as those affected keep a close eye on the proceedings of the parliament, the government only has until today to bring it before Parliament.
Earlier in September, the senate passed a motion that if the bill isn't passed by the Senate before close of business on Wednesday night, it will be struck from the notice paper.
This means, the government has until Wednesday to allow debate on its legislation or have it struck out by default.
If debate does not get underway by Wednesday evening, the legislation will be removed from the Senate notice paper, which will require the government to win a motion to restore it at a later stage.
The Greens say Immigration Minister Peter Dutton appears to have run up the "white flag" on the government's planned changes to citizenship eligibility rules.
"It's looking awfully like Peter Dutton has thrown up the white flag on his white Australia policy and this is a great day for multicultural Australia," Greens senator Nick McKim told reporters in Canberra.
The proposed changes appear likely to fail, with Labor and the Greens opposed and the Nick Xenophon Team signalling it will not support the bill in its current form.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said the proposed citizenship changes were patently unfair and ridiculous, suggesting the government go back to the drawing board.
"I think the best thing they could do is just quietly drop the proposals," he told reporters in Canberra.
"Here's an idea for Dutton - maybe he should talk to us before he announces this stuff."
On Monday, Nick Xenophon told The Guardian, “We can’t support it in its current form. The bill needs to be redrawn.
Labor has demanded that if the bill is defeated in the Senate, the Immigration Department must start processing the citizenship applications immediately under the current law.
(WITH AAP)
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