Riya Bhalla married and came to Australia five years ago and now lives on the Gold Coast. Her husband was already a citizen at the time of their wedding. Soon after she came to Australia, Riya gave birth to her son.
"My husband was an Australian, my son was born an Australian, and now I am one too!" she says.
This year citizenship ceremonies around the country had to be altered to adhere to COVID restrictions.
“I haven’t attended a ceremony before, but my husband has. He said they were grander events. We were not allowed to shake hands, but I am not complaining. It was a small, intimate affair, and I am very happy.”
Addressing the flag-hoisting and the citizenship ceremony at Canberra, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that this date marked the day that changed Australia forever, and there is ‘no escaping or cancelling that fact.’
PM Scott Morrison speaks to new citizens during an Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony and Flag Raising event in Canberra, Tuesday, January 26, 2021. Source: AAP
Key Highlights:-
- Australia Day 2021 saw a greater Indigenous representation
- The day saw huge protests all over the country
- COVID restrictions changed traditional practices like handshakes during Citizenship Ceremony
He said, “It was the moment where the journey to our modern Australia began, and it is this continuing Australian journey that we recognise today. Our stories since that day have been of sorrow and of joy, of loss and redemption, of failure and of success."
It is, however, not a day of celebration for all.
A movement calls the occasion Invasion Day, identifying it as the beginning of the colonisation of Indigenous Australians. Thousands across the country took to the streets to protest and call for justice for First Nations people. There were protests held in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane.
PM Scott Morrison poses for a photo with new citizens in Canberra, Tuesday, January 26, 2021. Source: AAP
Gamilaraay Next Generation Activist Ian Brown said, “What we're speaking to here today is all about giving us our own agency as people, to determine our own futures. Because there's no justice here in our country for First Nations people."
Australia Day 2021 has been marked by debates about changing the date or abolishing the holiday. The Domain, Sydney, Jan 26th 2021. Source: AAP
Mr Morrison said that the day recognises all histories, saying that Australia is now a nation of more than 25 million stories.
"All important, all unique, and all to be respected. Whether it's the story of our First Nations people's strong, ancient and proud culture, and their survival in the face of dispossession and colonisation. Or the forsaken souls who came as convicts, not to start a new world but because they had banished from the old one.
"These stories don't compete with each other. They simply coexist. They weave together to create Australia."
Focus on career
Now that Riya has her citizenship, what is she looking forward to?
She replies: "Studying,"
“I conceived my boy very early in my marriage. Now that I am a citizen and my son is grown up, I can focus on skill development again.”
She hopes to join the formal workforce.
“I have a deep interest in Interior designing, and would love to pursue that as a career now,” she concludes.
