I would like to make an ironic aside note. One of the disadvantages of the move
by the Austrian government is that: should an Australian descendant of Austrian
holocaust survivors take up the offer, that person would be prevented >from
becoming a member of Australia's parliament. Australian politics has been
devastated by a section of the Australian constitution that decrees that no
person with dual citizenship - or even eligibility for such citizenship - may
stand as a candidate for election to such a high office. The current Treasurer
of the country, the descendant of a Hungarian Jewish Refugees is currently
fighting to prove that he is not a dual citizen because of a similar move by
the current authoritarian - and some would say - antisemitic Hungarian
government to restore similar citizenship to the descendants of victims of
the Hungarian holocaust. DespIte the fact that an increasingly large proportion
of Australia's population either has or is eligible for citizenship in two or more
countries, the nation's highest court has ruled that the clause in the constitution
which was. Legislated in the early 20th century, when the nation was proudly and
avowedly racist, has firmly ruled that its leading politicians must divest themselves
of such dual citizenship at profound financial cost. As a result, a growing proportion
of the country's population is ruled out of contesting the nation's highest office.

Whatever one's views of the generosity of the Austrian Government in making this
offer, anyone of my readers should consider the fact that it would mean certain
death to a elevated political career in Australia!!!

Ron Hoenig
Adelaide, South Australia