TRANSCRIPT:
Born in Taiwan, Evie Wong says she is excited to become an Australian citizen.
It was all made official at a ceremony in Canberra.
"Australia is a wonderful country. The environment is great, everyone’s friendly, and the opportunity here is great - like working-wise, or raising a family, it’s a very good place."
Also at the citizenship ceremony is 29-year-old Chin Mun Lim, who was born in Malaysia.
"I find (Australia) is very laid back, relaxing country when I first came to study. I really enjoy the coffee, fantastic coffee compared to Malaysia."
People from more than 140 nations attended ceremonies held over 24 hours for Australian Citizenship Day.
The idea was implemented in 2001, the year of the Centenary of Federation, following a recommendation for a special day to celebrate Australian citizenship.
September 17th was chosen as the day as it recognises the legislation that gave rise to the idea of Australian citizenship under the then-named Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1948.
In 1973 on September 17th, it was renamed the Australian Citizenship Act.
In the first year of the Act, nearly 2,500 become citizens (2,493 people) from just over 35 different nationalities.
The top five nationalities at the time were: Italian, Polish, Greek, German and Yugoslav.
Since then more than 6.2 million people have become Australian citizens by conferral - including 165,000 people in the 12 months to June representing over 190 different nationalities.
The top five countries of birth these days are New Zealand, India, the UK, Philippines and Vietnam.
British subjects resident in Australia for the five years prior to 26 January 1949 were automatically made Australian citizens.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were also granted Australian citizenship at that time, but the citizenship law excluded them from voting, until 1962.
The citizenship law previously excluded migrants from non-European countries due to the White Australia Policy.
In 1957, the law was amended to include non-European migrants, but only if they had been an Australian resident for 15 years.
Since it was passed, the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 has been amended more than 30 times, reflecting changing attitudes towards immigration.
New Zealander Allan Lee is among another 50 new Australians who attended a ceremony in the City of Coffs Harbour in New South Wales.
As an SBS News journalist he has covered the Citizenship Day for the past few years, but Mr Lee says he still found this ceremony to be emotionally moving.
"It was handled beautifully in Coffs Harbour, the mayor was there, and our local MP. The mayor handled it. It was very friendly, but we did all the formalities properly. We were made to feel very welcome. We were made to feel it's a very special day."
To mark the special day, Mr Lee wore a necklace with a precious stone revered by Māori and New Zealanders called pounamu, or greenstone.
He says he regards the honour of citizenship with great respect.
"Here is a bunch of people who, we are all signing up to become Australian citizens. And yes, that brings enormous benefits, because we are Australian citizens. But it also brings responsibilities to the nation, to our neighbours, to our environment."
Mr Lee says he already has his first task lined up now that he is an Australian citizen.
"The first thing I'm going to do is register to vote. I've been here for 11 years and not been able to take part in the democratic process, and I shall be registering to vote in the next day or so."
The citizenship ceremonies come amid mass protests attended by neo-Nazis where rally speakers and organisers have used language promoting hate to single out and target certain groups, while also spreading misinformation about migration levels.
In the aftermath of the protests, Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's remarks on Indian migrants resulted in her being demoted in the party, a week after she claimed Labor was bringing Indian migrants into Australia to boost its electoral chances.
She later distanced herself from the comments, but insisted she would continue to be vocal about what she called the mass migration problem.
Last week, Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, also delivered a long-awaited report that found Islamophobia is a persistent problem in Australia that has never been fully addressed.
Speaking to SBS Arabic at an event held by the Australian Syrian Business Network, Immigration and Citizenship Minister Tony Burke says multiculturalism is something that should be celebrated.
"And I'll have one message for every new citizen, and that's to say to them welcome home, we are grateful that they chose Australia and welcome home."
Governor-General Sam Mostyn told SBS Chinese that she also has a message for Australia's newest citizens.
"Love that moment, be present, and know that what you are doing is making an extraordinary step and a big commitment to this country. And that as the Australian who has the ultimate honour of conferring citizenship, it makes me feel more Australian as we welcome people from all over the world in moments like this.”
