"I wanted to belong to a country that had fireworks on my birthday," she said.

Ms Conrad, who works in Monash Council's public affairs and communications unit, and her sons Grant, now 22, and Tyler, 19, took the Australian citizenship pledge in June 2008, 11 years after they migrated from the US.

"I like it here. It's a sensible country. It's safe and clean.

"I was worried when I first moved here that I might miss music; I came from Chicago, which was a great music city."

Ms Conrad said gaining Australian citizenship had been about building a sense of belonging.

"We applied for citizenship the same month we got permanent residency. My kids have been here since they were little and for all practical purposes they are Australian. We wanted to all belong to the same place."

Now a holder of dual citizenship, Ms Conrad said it was good to be able to vote in Australian elections.

"I have worked in politics for a long time - that was an important thing for me."

She

said there were not too many major differences between the American and Australian lifestyles, but health care was one of them.

"Health care is unbelievably better. It is so nice to be able to go to the doctor when you are ill."

She also found Australia to be less litigious.

"People are able to relax a little bit more here."