474 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 40:456 Section 40(1) of the Citizenship Act prescribes that the Minister (or an authorised delegate) may request that the applicant, ‘[f]or the purposes of the Minister being satisfied of the identity of [the applicant] … provide one or more specified personal identifiers’. Personal identifiers include: ‘fingerprints or handprints of a person … a measurement of a person’s height and weight; a photograph or other image of a person’s face and shoulders; an iris scan; [and] a person’s signature’.98 However, there are no guidelines available as to what information the Minister (or an authorised delegate) will take into account when making an initial assessment as to an applicant’s identity with respect to an assessment under s 21(8) of the Citizenship Act. Similarly, there are no guidelines as to what standard of proof is required, and on whom the burden falls, with respect to a conferral of citizenship under that provision.99 Additionally, the term ‘identity’ is not defined in the Citizenship Act or any other relevant legislation or regulations. There is no information on the Department’s website (or otherwise publicly available) about the application process for conferral of citizenship under s 21(8), and the conferral of citizenship form does not include the option of conferral pursuant to that section.100 At the time of writing, there were only two published tribunal decisions about the application of s 21(8) (conferral). In the first decision, the applicant (AP) was born in Australia in 2010 to a Nepalese mother and an unidentified 98 Citizenship Act ss 10(1)(a)--(e). 99 The extent of the guidance provided to decision-makers is as follows: ‘Applications which are considered to meet the requirements of this section must be referred to [the] Citizenship Policy Section through the Citizenship Helpdesk’: Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Cth), Australian Citizenship Instructions (2015) 62 [5.14.2]. The Instructions further state, at 1, that: The instructions provide guidance on policy in relation to the interpretation of, and the exercise of powers under, the Act and the Regulations. Decision-makers should be mindful that policy must not be applied inflexibly. Policy cannot constrain the exercise of delegated powers under the Act. Similarly, the instructions on s 24(3) identity requirements state, at 85 [5.27.2], that: Section 24(3) requires that the Minister must not approve the person becoming an Australian citizen unless the Minister is satisfied of the identity of the person. In addition to being a legislative requirement under the Act, the Australian community expects that decision-makers will not approve a person for citizenship if they are not satisfied of the person’s identity. 100 Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Cth), Form 1290: Application for Australian Citizenship ---- Other Situations (2016). The first few pages of the form, which discuss ‘eligibility’ to apply for citizenship via this form, do not specify the statelessness safeguard provided for by 21(8) of the Citizenship Act.