A few days before Australia\u2019s population ticked over 28 million, a neighbour and regular cricket mate invited me along to his citizenship ceremony. We arrived early, a little unsure of what the morning would hold.<\/p>\n
For him, it had been a long road. More than four years of forms, waiting, interviews, setbacks and that quiet, stubborn kind of hope you don\u2019t always talk about. Back in his home country he\u2019d been educated and settled. Here life had taken on a different shape, driving a cab by day before night shifts on a forklift in a factory, trying to piece together something steady.<\/p>\n
Sitting near us were an Afghan Hazara family. Two young girls were watching their father closely, their faces lit up in a way that only children can manage. He was speaking softly in Hazaragi, explaining things as they happened. I caught fragments: Aao Stralia keshwar-e hama-gi maasta ke enje zindagi moonem \u2026 enje kas ba kas gharaz nadra \u2026 (Australia is the home of everyone who lives here \u2026 People here mind their own business). He spoke simply, almost casually, but there was something careful in the way he chose his words. On his hand, a turquoise stone set in a silver ring caught the light every time he moved.<\/p>\n
The venue was Bunjil Place in Melbourne\u2019s south-east. The foyer, shaped like a great eagle, was flooded with morning sunlight pouring through the glass walls. The whole place felt alive. I could hear English, Hindi, Mandarin, Persian, Pashto, Punjabi. It felt less like a formal event and more like a gathering of the world in one room.<\/p>\n
I recognised a few faces from around the neighbourhood. But today was different. Everyone had dressed up. There was a quiet pride in the way people carried themselves, even in the small things: how they stood and spoke, how they waited for their turn.<\/p>\n
My friend said little. I couldn\u2019t quite read what was going through his mind. Was it nerves or something heavier? Maybe he was just trying to hold the moment steady, to not let it spill over too quickly.<\/p>\n
When the ceremony began, names were called one by one. Some were stumbled over, then repeated more carefully. Each time the room responded with applause and a kind of shared patience that didn\u2019t need to be explained.<\/p>\n
When my friend\u2019s name was called, I saw something shift in him. It wasn\u2019t quite happiness and not quite disbelief, but something in between. He walked up, took the certificate and held on to the small Australian flag, almost as though it was something solid he could anchor himself to.<\/p>\n
For many in that room, especially communities like the Hazara, shaped by years of displacement and uncertainty, Australia means something that doesn\u2019t always make it into political debates. It\u2019s not just opportunity. It\u2019s safety and a sense of dignity. It\u2019s the ability to finally exist without constantly looking over your shoulder.<\/p>\n
You can see what that has built over time. Small shops, restaurants and trade businesses. Kids going to school, then on to university or Tafe. Parents settling into routines that once felt out of reach, like smooth school dropoffs, grocery runs, weekend sport on ovals whose names they\u2019re still learning to pronounce properly.<\/p>\n
Later, the Hazara family moved toward a group of local politicians taking photos with the new citizens. The setup felt formal, almost routine, but to me it looked as though each interaction carried something more personal.<\/p>\n
That, more than anything, stayed with me. The ceremony didn\u2019t suddenly turn people into Australians. It simply recognised what had already been lived, the years of building a life, quietly and steadily. Belonging hadn\u2019t started that day \u2013 it just became easier to name and label.<\/p>\n
But, stepping outside, that feeling didn\u2019t sit so neatly.<\/p>\n
Beyond the walls of the building named after Bunjil, the creator figure in Wurundjeri tradition, the idea of belonging feels more contested. The conversation about migration has sharpened. Cost-of-living pressures, housing, wages and public services \u2013 these are real concerns. But too often migrants end up carrying the blame<\/a>.<\/p>\n Political rhetoric hasn\u2019t helped. At times it circles back to the same quiet question: who gets to belong and who doesn\u2019t quite fit. Debates about welfare, rights, even taking part in local democracy carry that undercurrent, whether it\u2019s spoken or not.<\/p>\n As people began to leave the hall, certificates tucked carefully into folders, small flags passed to children or held loosely in hand, I kept thinking about the man with the turquoise ring.<\/p>\n Shadi Khan Saif is an editor, producer and journalist who has worked in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany and Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few days before Australia\u2019s population ticked over 28 million, a neighbour and regular cricket mate invited me…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-753372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}