Peter Costello makes a bid to claim the diaspora is still Australian ;

This song is something of an anthem for those Australians now recognized in Hollywood or on Broadway or Wall Street and other centres of the arts or business around the world. There are many Australians who live overseas because their talent or ability or drive has taken them on to the world stage. ... This does not mean they have turned their back on their country. For many of them the love of country grows stronger through this process. Apart from anything else, living overseas gives them a comparison to measure all the benefits that Australia brings.

OK Peter, you obviously think us diasporans are the ducks guts, so do us a favour; don't kick us off the electoral rolls because we are living outside of Australia, and don't make it hard for us to get back on them when we do get kicked off.

To keep us engaged with Australia also make it super-easy for our foreign spouses/partners/dependents to get work visas and permanent residency in Australia. Since so many of us diasporans are overseas, supposedly up to one million, give us direct representation in the Senate. At least the equal of the territories - who we outnumber.

It has been too much of a one way process for too long with the government. It maintains a nationalist siege mentality, where citizenship is myopically defined. The world has moved toward volatile capital, goods and labor flows. Where labor mobility was once limited to immigration, it is now far more transient. Citizenship laws, immigration laws, and numerous other aspects of national government are way behind, and are maintaining artificial barriers for people to move where their labor is most valued.

The federal government needs to smarten up if it wants to keep diasporans engaged.

I received a media release from the Southern Cross Group in my inbox this evening. The media release is titled: Overseas Australians Should Enrol to Vote Now [pdf]. It is a reminder for diasporans that the Electoral Act has changed and the diasporans need to enrol each year to remain on the electoral roll. The AEC can strike a diasporan off if they miss voting in an election.

From the media release:

Jacqui Mowbray, spokeswoman for the SCG in Sydney, said that 2006 changes to the closing date for the electoral roll, coupled with limitations in the law on enrolling from abroad, meant that many Australian expats who had left Australia in recent years faced a very real prospect that inaction on their part would lead to them becoming disenfranchised for their entire sojourn abroad.

"Australians overseas must organise their electoral enrolment now, and not wait until the Prime Minister calls the election", she said. "The old seven day window between the calling of the election and the closing of the electoral roll is gone. Once the election is announced, the roll will close almost immediately."

The release contains some interesting statistics too. The SCG estimates that nearly five hundred thousand, or half, of the Australian diaspora are disenfranchised because the electoral act prevents them from re-enrolling. In addition there are low levels of voting by diasporans:

In the 2004 election, only 68,544 votes were issued by overseas posts. In 2001, the figure was 63,016, and in 1998, 65,086. In 1999, only 57,955 votes were issued overseas for the referendum on the Republic.

It is not compulsory for diasporans to vote. I can understand a level of apathy from diasporans as the House of Representatives doesn't have the national focus that diasporans would have. Local issues in the electorate would hardly be something a diasporan would gun for. However I can imagine a large level of interest in the Senate. If there was an elected President - a national position - then there may be more interest from the diaspora.