Welcoming our newest citizens this Australia Day

These are 11 people who are already a part of our community and on Tuesday they take the final step to become citizens.

The crazy world of 2020 took away many things, including our ability to hold citizenship ceremonies, so on Tuesday the event at Slim Dusty Centre goes down as our first citizenship ceremony in 12 months.

It is such an incredible honour to be part of that ceremony. It is sincerely one of the best parts of my job as Mayor. To be a part of welcoming people into the Australian family.

I was born in Kempsey and still live in my childhood home on the banks of the Macleay River. I have a passionate love of this country. So being Australian has never once been a question for me. But I'm still in awe of those who choose to take that pledge and go through the steps to become a citizen.

To choose a country. To choose Australia. It says so much about them and about us.

This is the pledge made by all new Australians:

I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its People,

whose democratic beliefs I share,

whose rights and liberties I respect,

whose laws I will uphold and obey.

Mostly when we think about our citizenship in terms of what it gets us. What it means the country will do for us. Still, looking around the world at present, I can't help but feel that swearing an oath to democracy, to liberty and to the rule of law is something to admire.

We are a complicated, diverse community, made up of a huge variety of people from those whose ties to the country go back tens of thousands of years ago, to these 11 for whom the ink is still drying on their certificates.

January 26 is a complicated day that sparks much debate and a mature country and community should be able to have that conversation.

Australian Citizenship though, and the choice to become an Australian, for me there is no question that it is an honourable, impressive and great thing to do.

Welcome to Australia. Thank you for being part of our Kempsey community.