In fact it was not until over twenty years after the family had arrived in Australia as subsidised assisted migrants that Tony Abbott’s parents applied to register his birth with the Dept. of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs and apply for his citizenship, in a document/s dated 19 June 1981.
This application appears to have been treated as urgent by departmental staff.
His parents were subsequently informed in a letter dated 1 July 1981 that Anthony John Abbott was now deemed to be an Australian citizen under Section 11 of the
Australian Citizenship Act 1948 which allowed citizenship by descent.
At this time Tony Abbott was 23 years and 7 months of age and, had either applied for a Rhodes Scholarship or was intending to apply for this scholarship to study at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Currently such applications must be applied for after 1 June in the year a Rhodes Scholarship is on offer.
To gain a Rhodes Scholarship an applicant has to be
an Australian citizen and have been resident in Australia for at least five of the last ten years.