Daniel Elia was born in Ecuador and has lived in Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but on Wednesday, he officially became an Australian Citizen.
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The Elermore Vale resident took the pledge with partner Mabel Gallaza and daughter Danibel, alongside about 200 other citizens from 53 countries at Civic Theatre.
"It's a privilege for us to become Australian citizens and be a part of this country," Mabel said. "We really love Australia and the people. This is a big day for us."
Mabel, who hails from the Philippines, and Daniel met in Dubai before moving to Qatar then onto Australia in 2018. After two years in Sydney they settled in Newcastle, and in 2021 their son John Rene become a citizen.
"There are so many people from different backgrounds here," Daniel said. "You could meet people from any place, you could hear any language and the good thing is that we don't feel we are strangers. We feel we're surrounded by people with the same vision."
Wednesday's ceremony was the first Australia Day citizenship event City of Newcastle has not held on January 26, with the federal government last year moving to allow councils flexibility around the date.
The council surveyed almost 700 new citizens conferred between 2020 and 2022, and lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the results "overwhelmingly" called for the ceremony to be moved to "a more culturally appropriate date".
"We pride ourselves on being a welcoming city and an inclusive city," Cr Nelmes said. "To be inclusive, we really do need to make sure celebrations of our national day include our Indigenous population."
The lord mayor said days where she conferred citizenship on residents were the "best days of the year".
"It is sometimes a very difficult journey for people that have fled oppression and war," she said. "So it is a very special day in someone's life and to be able to grant citizenship is a true honour.
"And in terms of a very practical side of citizenship, if we want to grow our national GDP and our economy and we want to fill job vacancies... we need to have positive net migration."
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Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
