Identity requirements also vary across the resettlement pathway, leading to a consequence where stateless people whose identity was not contested when applying for protection can have their Australian citizenship applications refused on the basis of not having sufficient identity documents. “… I had one person who has permanent residency talk to me about the fact that he is now eligible for citizenship and he applied for citizenship. And now at the citizenship stage, they’re asking him to prove his Rohingya identity. So they didn’t ask him when he was released from immigration detention and given a temporary visa. They didn’t ask him when he got on a permanent visa to prove his Rohingya identity. But now, right at this final stage, they need—for some reason, they need this proof. And his family list, which as you know, in the Rohingya context, is the only written identity document. It’s just a list of people’s names and attached to an address, which they use to monitor people, the military government in Burma. His family list got destroyed in the 2017 mass violence, and so he doesn’t have his Rohingya identity anymore, in terms of that documentation. And his citizenship was rejected as a result.” — Social Worker Challenges in assessing a stateless person’s identity in the context of citizenship due to a lack of documentation was also identified by members the Department interviewed for this research. “Like other humanitarian visa holders, stateless citizenship applicants may not be well documented and this can make assessment of identity more challenging.” — Department of Home Affairs officer Indeed section 24(3) of the Citizenship Act provides that the Minister: ‘must not approve the person becoming an Australian citizen unless the Minister is satisfied of the identity of the person’. 40 Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness | Understanding Statelessness in Australia While ‘identity’ is not defined, the Citizenship Act requires positive satisfaction of identity and places the onus on the applicant.74 When exercising power under the Citizenship Act, a decision-maker may be guided by government policy. The Australian Citizenship Policy (Chapter 13 — Identity) (Citizenship Policy) provides that the concept of identity should be understood according to the AttorneyGeneral’s Department’s National Identity Proofing Guidelines. Para 2.1.1 of the Guidelines provides that: ‘A person’s identity is not a fixed concept; it is highly dependent on context. It is some combination of characteristics or attributes that allow a person to be uniquely distinguished from others within a specific context. In the context of the Department’s functions, identity integrity is essential in maintaining Australia’s national security, law enforcement, and economic and social interests.’ Statelessness significantly impacts upon an applicant’s ability to demonstrate their identity and indeed by far the majority of cases grappling with statelessness in the context of citizenship concern s 24(3) of the Citizenship Act. In the majority of cases where a person claims to be stateless the tribunal ‘cannot be positively satisfied of his identity to the degree implicit in the requirements of the Act’.75 The statutory meaning of ‘satisfied’ is that the Tribunal is ‘persuaded to a degree of reasonable satisfaction’ that a purported fact is actually the case.76 There is a higher bar to establish identity in citizenship applicants than that required for the purposes of humanitarian/complementary protection because of the significance of the grant of citizenship.77 Despite statements in the Citizenship Policy about alternative ways of ascertaining identity for people that are potentially stateless, being unable to provide any documentation in support of a person’s life story has prevented the Tribunal from making a positive finding about a person’s identity.78 The onus rests on the applicant to have taken positive steps to ‘prove’ their identity.79 Further, unexplained gaps in a life story have also prevented the Tribunal from being satisfied about a person’s identity.80 Some Tribunal Members have been tolerant of some discrepancies in a stateless applicant’s recollections of their life story, although this is aided by having multiple identity documents available.81 Legal status as a citizen/ stateless person is not determinative of identity.82 The Explanatory Memorandum to the Australian Citizenship Bill 2005 (Cth) makes it explicit that in cases where an applicant’s identity is ‘unclear or cannot be satisfactorily ascertained’ the Minister cannot approve their application for citizenship. This appears to be borne out in practice.