The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 2) Bill 2025 clarifies and modernises how the Department of Home Affairs collects and verifies facial biometric images under the Migration Act 1958 and the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, and validates images previously collected. It also grants the Minister discretion to waive the 180-day residency requirement for citizenship applicants engaged in activities beneficial to Australia who spend significant time overseas.
The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 2) Bill 2025 amends two principal Acts: the Migration Act 1958 and the Australian Citizenship Act 2007. Schedule 1 updates the definition and collection provisions for biometric facial images, expressly authorising the Department to collect face-only or cropped images in line with international standards and current technology. It also validates any facial images previously provided or collected and all departmental actions taken in relation to those images, ensuring no retrospective penalties or disadvantages.
Schedule 2 amends section 22A of the Citizenship Act by empowering the Minister, in prescribed cases of benefit to Australia, to waive the requirement that an applicant be physically present in Australia for at least 180 days in the two years before applying for citizenship. It retains the undertaking that new citizens must remain ordinarily resident in Australia for two years after conferral. Provisions in Schedule 2 apply to applications and citizenships both before and after commencement. Schedule 1 commences by proclamation within six months of Royal Assent; Schedule 2 commences on the day after assent.
Modernising biometric provisions enhances the security and integrity of Australia’s borders and citizenship processes by reducing identity fraud, streamlining traveller and applicant experiences, and aligning domestic law with global best practice [Judgment].
Granting the Minister discretion to waive residency requirements for those whose activities significantly benefit Australia—such as elite athletes and specialists—ensures the nation can attract and retain high-value contributors. This flexibility bolsters Australia’s international reputation and ensures that individuals whose overseas commitments advance national interests are not unfairly excluded from citizenship, while preserving a post-conferral residency undertaking.
Validating and deeming past biometric collections without clear temporal limits or strengthened oversight risks undermining legal certainty and public trust in data governance. The broad retrospective deeming provisions may produce arbitrary outcomes and leave no avenue for challenge [Judgment].
Expanding mandatory facial image collection intensifies privacy and surveillance concerns. Although existing Privacy Act safeguards apply, the Bill grants the Department extensive discretion without enhancing transparency, appeal rights or deletion safeguards, resulting in disproportionate interference with individual privacy. Furthermore, empowering the Minister to waive residency requirements for a select group (e.g. elite athletes) entrenches unequal treatment, risking perceptions of favoritism and undermining equal access to citizenship rights.
2025-10-08
House of Representatives
Before House of Representatives
Unspecified
Home Affairs
Immigration, Discrimination / Human Rights, National Security