Hill intended to stand for election, but to do so she had to be an Australian citizen. She applied for Australian citizenship in January 1998, which was granted on 20 January. She then attended a citizenship ceremony where she was presented with a certificate after reciting the pledge of loyalty to Australia. She also applied for an Australian passport. However, she needed to travel to New Zealand for family reasons on 4 February, and because her Australian passport had not arrived by then (it was issued only the previous day, 3 February), she used her British passport.