A statement of this kind therefore would have largely symbolic effect. SS Confirmation that the prohibition against discrimination does not preclude affirmative action, including protection of the cultural values of particular groups. Such a qualification might be implied from a general prohibition against discrimination in any event, depending on its working. Of the three options listed here however, it creates a tension between formal equality and cultural or ethnic difference in the most obvious form. One further aspect of the Constitution merits attention, from the standpoint of the diversity of the Australian community and the increasing mobility of people generally, in Australia and elsewhere.
Some Australian citizens are also citizens of another country.
Those who have only Australian citizenship, however, will lose it if they become a citizen of another country. This asymmetry raises a question of what our attitude towards dual citizenship should be, in a world in which a commitment to several countries is increasingly common and may be manifested in various ways, of which formal citizenship is only one. At the Federation Centenary Convention in Adelaide in April 1997, several participants suggested that there should be a right to dual citizenship, at least in the sense that it is not prohibited by legislation. The suggestion was not taken up by the group but it may well be raised again in other contexts. There are obvious objections in principle to preventing citizens from standing for Parliament.