The Meaning of “Parent” in Australian Citizenship Act

In the Australian Citizenship Act, the meaning of “parent” is not limited to biological parent. Instead, the ordinary meaning of “parent” is adopted and looks at various factors including social, legal and biological.

In Ibrahim and Minister for Home Affairs (Citizenship) [2019] AATA 4294v, the Australian person was not the birth father of the applicant. However, evidence provided that:

• The Australian provided intense emotional and financial support to the birth mother before the birth of the Applicant up until the date of hearing.

• The Australian shared a parental role by being involved in the decision making of his upbringing from the start.

• The Australian had a desire to protect and support the Applicant as his son

Thus, the Tribunal was satisfied that the Applicant was “informally” adopted at birth by the Australian by his full acceptance of responsibility as the Applicant’s father, even during the mother’s pregnancy.

It was held in this case that the Applicant satisfied one of the key legal requirements for the grant of Australian citizenship by descent which was that he had a parent who was an Australian citizen at the time of birth.

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