PR-12-2022
24 March 2022
Melbourne PCG Consular Team Visits Tasmania
A team from the Philippine Consulate General in Melbourne visited Hobart, Tasmania last March 18-22 to provide consular outreach services for the Filipino community living on the island, Australia’s southernmost state.
The team served 208 applicants with their various consular needs, such as passport renewal, civil registration (Reports of Birth and Marriage), and Philippine citizenship retention and reacquisition (dual citizenship) under Republic Act 9225.
Most of the applicants expressed appreciation for the conduct of the outreach services, which resulted in significant savings and convenience in not having to travel to Melbourne, the nearest career consulate, and take time off work and family duties.
Some of them wished the outreach service could be more frequent. “Hopefully, the service would be available in Tasmania every year,” said one client.
The Filipino population in Tasmania is estimated at about 2,200, majority of whom are concentrated in Hobart, the state capital, and Launceston to the north. The overwhelming majority (about 90 percent) are spouse/partner visa holders, while the rest are either work or student visa holders.
Meanwhile, 13 naturalized Australian citizens took their oath as citizens of the Philippines (dual citizens) during the consular services.
The outreach team from Melbourne was composed of Anthony Mandap (deputy consul general and team leader), Ernie Enriquez, Leonila Palisoc, and Raymund Aquino. They were assisted by Rick Van Neutegem, Philippine honorary consul in the city, who also offered free use of his office as venue.
The state of Tasmania consists of the main island – the 26th largest island in the world - and 1,000 or so surrounding small islands. Historically an aboriginal territory, Tasmania was populated by Europeans beginning in 1803, originally as a penal settlement. It officially became a state in 1901.
With a population of just over half a million, Tasmania’s major industries include agriculture, wild fishery and aquaculture, mining, forestry and tourism.
Tasmania is also home to the Tasmanian Devil, the iconic marsupial caricaturized in classic Warner Brothers cartoons, as well as the mysterious Tasmanian Tiger, Australia’s erstwhile largest land predator, which went extinct in the 1930s due to overhunting.
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Two passport applicants having their photos and biometrics taken by Consulate staff for their passport renewal.
Six of the 13 Tasmania-based former Filipinos are shown taking the oath administered by Deputy Consul General Anthony Mandap to retain/reacquire Philippine citizenship Republic Act 9225 during the consular outreach service.
