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'Awkward': Ex-Wallabies star Quade Cooper denied Australian passport
By Sam Smith
Former Wallabies star Quade Cooper has been denied an Australian passport, despite representing the country 70 times in test rugby.
Cooper, who was born in New Zealand and lived there until he was 13, took to Twitter on Tuesday to take aim at the Australian Government for rejecting his latest application to become a citizen.
"Awkward moment @ausgov refuse your citizenship applications (again)," Cooper wrote in a message aimed at an employee of the Department of Home Affairs.
"Wearing the green and gold [jersey] 70 times apparently is not enough these days.. Cheers Shannon."
In a letter penned to Cooper, which he shared on to his 332,200 Twitter followers, the Department of Home Affairs outlined that the 33-year-old had failed to satisfy two special residency requirements.
The Department of Home Affairs deemed that Cooper had not provided evidence that he is a "persons engaging in activities of benefit to Australia", nor is he a "persons engaged in particular kinds of work requiring regular travel outside of Australia".
Cooper's rejected application to become an Australian passport-holder comes after he played 70 test matches and attended two World Cups for the Wallabies between 2008 and 2017.
Born in Auckland and raised in Tokoroa before relocating to Brisbane as a teenager, Cooper is a New Zealand citizen and used his New Zealand passport while representing Australia internationally.
This isn't the first time Cooper has run into trouble with his citizenship status as he was dumped from the Australian sevens team ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics as he didn't hold an Australian passport.
Under Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter, all athletes must hold citizenship in the country for which they wish to represent.
Since the end of his test career with the Wallabies, Cooper has played club rugby in Brisbane, in Super Rugby for the Melbourne Rebels and, most recently, in Japan's second-tier Top Challenge League for the Kintetsu Liners.
Cooper joined long-time halves partner Will Genia for a second season at Kintetsu this year as the Liners secured a berth in the Top League play-offs before losing to eventual champions, the Panasonic Wild Knights, in the round of 16.
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