2016] The Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Australia 471 that allow for the revocation or renunciation of a person’s citizenship contain safeguards against rendering someone stateless.82 However, despite these positive aspects of Australia’s legal and policy framework on citizenship, other elements may render a person stateless (or at risk of becoming stateless). These are examined below. A Prevention of Statelessness: Grant of Nationality to Avoid Statelessness Article 1(1) of the 1961 Convention provides that a contracting state ‘shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless.’ This may be effected either ‘at birth, by operation of law’,83 or ‘upon an application being lodged with the appropriate authority, by or on behalf of the person concerned, in the manner prescribed by the national law.’84 1 Stateless Children Born in Australia Pursuant to s 12(1) of the Citizenship Act, a person born in Australia is automatically an Australian citizen: if and only if: (a) a parent of the person is an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident, at the time the person is born; or (b) the person is ordinarily resident in Australia throughout the period of 10 years beginning on the day the person is born.85 Section 21(8) provides a potential safeguard against statelessness for children born in Australia to non-citizen or non-resident parents. The provision states: A person is eligible to become an Australian citizen if the Minister is satisfied that: (a) the person was born in Australia; and (b) the person: 82 Ibid ss 33(7), 34(3)(b), 34A(2). Similar safeguards are also contained in provisions on cessation: see below Part V(C). 83 1961 Convention art 1(1)(a). 84 Ibid art 1(1)(b). 85 Prior to the passage of the Australian Citizenship Amendment Act 1986 (Cth), Australia adopted the jus soli doctrine in relation to the automatic acquisition of Australian nationality by birth in Australia: Peter Prince, ‘We Are Australian ---- The Constitution and Deportation of Australian-Born Children’ (Research Paper No 3, Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia, 24 November 2003).