Meet Marie Hanna - National Citizenship Day

Australia is home to a colourful mix of nationalities and backgrounds, but our Australian citizenship is the common bond which unites us all. Every year on 17 September, Australia welcomes thousands of new citizens in local communities across the nation.

Marie Hanna, a Team Leader in Accounts Payable at HSS, is a newly minted Australian citizen. Marie was born in a town called Valence, in Southern France, to a Lebanese father and a French mother. Marie stayed in Valence until she finished high school then went to university to study Optometry. Part of the course required a six-month internship and Perth was one of the places offered by the university.

Ever since Marie was small, she knew she wanted to live in an English-speaking country, and maybe even one day have bilingual children, so she packed her bags and flew to Perth, a place she had not previously even heard of. She returned to France when her placement was finished but had fallen in love with Australia so when a job opportunity came up in 2014, she knew she had to take it. Marie soon fell in love with an Australian and her bilingual child shortly followed.

Although Marie had been an Australian in almost every sense of the word since she arrived, she only recently made it official. Being a Permanent Resident offers much of the same benefits as being a citizen, but it does not allow you to vote. Marie wanted to be an Australian in all ways and have a say in the country which has accepted her – and that she has chosen. “I wanted to be part of the country, and to feel like I had a voice,” she said. “And also, my life is here.” Marie wanted to be like her daughter, who is a French National and an Australian-born citizen.

Marie considers herself fortunate to have three citizenships and says they mean different things to her. The French citizenship is fundamental to Marie, because she says, “It is where I was built.” The Lebanese citizenship is meaningful to Marie because it signifies a deeper link to a country where Marie has family and shared cultural background. The Australian citizenship is special because it is the home Marie has chosen, and where she knows her future is.

Although sometimes the concept of home can feel blurry and, “…as we say in French, your bottom is on two chairs,” Marie said she loves her citizenships and feels they open up a different perspective. “Having three citizenships is pretty cool! It depicts quite well the world that we live in; that I’m allowed to travel and see the world. We’re not limited to the borders of a country, they’re just lines on a map,” she said.

Marie says she hopes she can be of great support to her team and her managers. Accounts Payable provide daily support to customers by responding to queries regarding invoices for payment, and they are also a point of contact between all the metro hospitals and their suppliers, making it a dynamic and fast-paced workspace – well-suited to someone who has experience engaging with different cultures and backgrounds, such as Marie.

Reflecting on her experiences, Marie said recognising skills and providing opportunities is distinctly Australian. Starting with HSS in 2020, Marie has recently been acting in a team leader role, having begun working in the Accounts Payable team and proving herself capable and up to the task. She appreciates the trust in providing such an opportunity and says in France it is different, and that resumes must be ‘perfect.’

Marie says an Australian citizenship is ‘a lucky one to have’, and that it is not a given. Marie’s story reflects citizenship data from the 2021 ABS census, which shows us almost half of Australians have a parent born overseas (48.2 per cent) and the population continues to be drawn from around the globe, with 27.6 per cent reporting a birthplace overseas.

Australian Citizenship Day is a day for all citizens, whether by birth or choice, to celebrate the country we live in and all its freedoms and values.