SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: THE PACIFIC within these populations.1451 In response, Queensland implemented the Closing the Registration Gap Strategy Plan 2021-2024 to increase the birth registration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a goal to attain an 80% birth registration rate in the first 60 days after birth and 90% rate in the first year after birth by 2024.1452 Barriers to birth registration which this Plan seeks to address include “lack of access to online and paper registration services in remote communities, financial difficulties caused by fees and penalties, confusion between registration and certification processes, language barriers and a shortage of culturally sensitive services, limited understanding of the significance of registration for children, and inconsistent information regarding the registration process”.1453 Most recently, Queensland reported a 77.2% birth registration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2022.1454 residency in Australia predominantly hailed from countries like Iran and Iraq, with a large proportion of individuals being of Kurdish ethnicity.1457 Australia has also seen refugee communities originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, Kuwait, Lebanon, and individuals of Arab, Rohingya, and Tibetan ethnicity.1458 Refugee support services have seen an uptick in the proportion of stateless clients originating from the Middle East.1459 In response, Queensland implemented the Closing the Registration Gap Strategy Plan 2021-2024 to increase the birth registration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a goal to attain an 80% birth registration rate in the first 60 days after birth and 90% rate in the first year after birth by 2024. Undetermined nationalities Most recently, Queensland reported a 77.2% birth registration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2022. Stateless Refugees All of the reported stateless persons in Australia are refugees, asylum seekers or stateless persons from countries facing humanitarian conflicts held in immigration detention.1455 UNHCR has noted that these figures are not representative of all stateless persons within Australia as the country lacks a statelessness status determination procedure.1456 In the mid-2010s, stateless individuals who applied for and were granted permanent 126 SUB-REGIONAL OVERVIEW: THE PACIFIC All of the reported stateless persons in Australia are refugees, asylum seekers or stateless persons from countries facing humanitarian conflicts held in immigration detention. Australia has also seen refugee communities originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, Kuwait, Lebanon, and individuals of Arab, Rohingya, and Tibetan ethnicity. Australia does not have publicly available census data that captures persons classified as being “undetermined” or “unknown” nationality. Since 2015, Australian citizenship law has provided Ministerial powers to strip citizenship from dual nationals who had engaged in or were convicted of engaging in terrorist offences which demonstrated a ‘repudiation’ of their allegiance to Australia.1460 These provisions operate extraterritorially, and frequently persons stripped of citizenship have been unaware of the occurrence. While this provision only applied to dual citizens, and contained protections against statelessness, there was at least one instance of citizenship deprivation in which the purported dual citizenship was denied by the second state and the legality of the act was questioned.1461 Additionally, as noted below, in June 2022 the legality of some of the citizenship deprivation provisions was rejected by the High Court of Australia, the status of those stripped of Australian citizenship prior STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC (DETAILED VERSION) to this decision remains uncertain.1462 At least twelve persons were stripped of their Australian citizenship under these provisions, however the total number is likely much higher.1463 Additionally, some Australians born in Papua New Guinea prior to its independence from Australia have had their Australian citizenship questioned and applications for renewal of passports denied in recent years after living decades of their life as Australian citizens.1464 One such affected person successfully had their Australian citizenship recognised by the Federal Court of Australia in 2020, however the implication of this decision on others in similar circumstances is unclear.1465 Since 2015, Australian citizenship law has provided Ministerial powers to strip citizenship from dual nationals who had engaged in or were convicted of engaging in terrorist offences which demonstrated a ‘repudiation’ of their allegiance to Australia. Causes of Statelessness Lack of legal safeguards against childhood statelessness The citizenship law of Australia provides that stateless children born in Australia are eligible for Australian citizenship.1466 However, this process is not automatic, and the definition of “statelessness” adopted in the citizenship law of Australia acts as a barrier for stateless children to access citizenship. Australian citizenship law requires children to prove that not only are they not a national or citizens of any other country but that they have never been and are not entitled to nationality or citizenship of another country.1467 Citizenship stripping Under the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Act (2015), provisions of the Citizenship Act regarding cessation of citizenship due to involvement in terrorist activities were replaced with provisions stipulating cessation if “you engage in various kinds of c1468onduct inconsistent with allegiance to Australia”. It also includes a provision extending the scope of who this applies to, stating that anyone over the age of 14 renounces their citizenship “if the person acts inconsistently with their allegiance to Australia”.1469 Section 10 of the Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Exclusion Orders) Act (2019) allows the Minister to make a Temporary Exclusion Order which may prevent an Australian citizen aged 14 years or older who is overseas from returning to Australia for up to two years at a time.1470 In June 2022, the High Court of Australia struck down the power previously held by the Minister for Home Affairs to strip dual nationals of Australian citizenship who had ‘repudiated their allegiance to Australia’ by undertaking suspected terrorist activities in Alexander v Minister for Home Affairs (2022).1471 The new Albanese Government responded to the decision, stating that in order to “manage the risk posed to Australians by individuals offshore,” an individual may be prohibited from “returning to Australia for up to two years”.1472 According to the High Court’s judgement, the applicant has previously been the subject of such an order. While the citizenship of the applicant in the case was reinstated, the position of those who were stripped of citizenship under the relevant provision prior to this decision remains uncertain. Some powers to strip In June 2022, the High Court of Australia struck down the power previously held by the Minister for Home Affairs to strip dual nationals of Australian citizenship who had ‘repudiated their allegiance to Australia’ by undertaking suspected terrorist activities in Alexander v Minister for Home Affairs (2022). While the citizenship of the applicant in the case was reinstated, the position of those who were stripped of citizenship under the relevant provision prior to this decision remains uncertain. REPORT 2024 127