Bao Huang is 12 months old. She was born in China in September 2020. Her mother, Mei, is a Chinese citizen who married an Australian citizen, Harry, in July 2020.

Mei lodged an application for Australian citizenship on behalf of her daughter, Bao, at the Australian Consulate in Shanghai in November 2020. The application named Harry as the father.

The Minister's delegate refused the application 1 week ago. The application was refused on the ground that Bao 'is not descended from an Australian citizen parent, and has no genetic link to an Australian citizen' as such she was not eligible for citizenship under s16 of theAustralian Citizenship Act 2007noting that: 'The period when the child was conceived strongly appears to be during a time when Harry was in a different country, and thus the child, Bao, is not the biological child of Harry. When this office contacted the child's mother about this, she confirmed that Harry is not the biological father of the child, but that they had met and subsequently married in a ceremony in China prior to the birth of the child.'

Mei approaches you for advice about Bao's eligibility for Australian citizenship.

Write a letter to Mei explaining:

• the provisions of theAustralian Citizenship Act2007 that allow for an application for citizenship by descent; and
• how you would interpret the word 'parent' as it is used in s 16 of theAustralian Citizenship Act 2007(in answering this question, you should use the principles of statutory interpretation that you have learned in LAWS503);and
• whether Harry qualifies as Bao's father for the purposes of theAustralian Citizenship Act 2007.