Abstract
While much has been written about children who arrive in Australia seeking asylum and children in immigration detention, little attention has been given to the question of how Australia's migration and citizenship laws affect children in general. This chapter is a modest attempt to begin a discussion directed at filling the silence in the discourse.
Australia's immigration and citizenship laws operate together as a legal mechanism to determine which persons are accepted into the Australian community. Formally, the laws confer legal statuses which correspond to a hierarchy of legal rights and benefits such as rights of residence, access to government services in the form of social welfare, education and health, and even the right to vote. Informally, the bestowal of rights of residence and citizenship is a reflection of who we want to include within the Australian polity.