German seeking Australian Citizenship - Beibehaltungsgenehmigung

Good question since one usually loses German citizenship by naturalizing in a non-EU country. One has to get permission beforehand to retain German citizenship. I have heard comments from a lawyer in Canada who has experience with this and he made it sound like it is pretty standard given just for the asking. I have some doubts about this because why would they even have this rule if everyone can opt out. 

I assume one must give some sort of justification. The uncertainty of the political or economic situation in many countries would seem to be a good reason. Not sure this is likely to apply to Australia though. But if one is planning to stay a long time in Australia it is of course and advantage to naturalize yet if one foresees eventually returning to Germany then it would make sense to retain German citizenship. Maybe just stating as much is enough. But this is all pretty straight forward. Why not simply ask at the embassy/consulate in charge, explain the situation and ask how it works? If one doesn't get a positive answer then it might be worth hiring a lawyer specialized in such things. But while there is always some paperwork involved, most such immigration processes can be done without spending money on a lawyer.

Double citizenship is (among other reasons that do not apply to you) tolerated if it avoids an undue economic hardship.
This must be something unacceptable by German law. Just saving on school fees certainly isn't, since the higher school fees are acceptable to students in other circumstances.
I heard cases where double citizenship was tolerated if otherwise an (inherited) property could not be kept, because real estate ownership was only allowed for citizens. Does that apply to your country?
Also, as Tom already mentioned, you have a chance if renouncing the other citizenship is impossible or unduly expensive. Does that apply?
The "professional disadvantage" aspect is e.g. losing the job and livelihood after renouncing, as some countries only allow citizens as public servants. (But in that case why apply to become German?) Just getting a lower pay or less chances for promotion are not enough.
I am afraid there is no other chance. Personal bonds are not an acceptable reason, because they can also be kept without being citizen.

Thank you.

I will contact the local embassy and ask for some guidance. I am reading mixed things online, so hopefully the embassy can advise accordingly.

There was a Yahoo Group (Zwei Paesse) that held a lot of great information but no longer exists. Does anyone know if the Yahoo community moved to another platform?

My husband is German and got dual citizenship.  It was a long process and on the first application, the embassy (in the US) sent it back saying his reasoning wasn't good enough.  He had talked about family ties in both places (I'm American, he's German); owning property in both places; working on projects in both places...but they did not accept that as proof enough of his NEEDING both German and US citizenship. 

When he added that he could only apply for certain grants/work possibilities through his US job IF he were American, that seemed to tip him over the edge.  They agreed on the second go-around.  Another friend of ours in a similar situation just applied and was denied and asked for more/better reasons than family connections and ability to work in both places.  So definitely it is not 'just for the asking' as one answer suggested.

Good luck!

I would mention that this thread started over a year ago. In the meantime, the current government has proposed a fairly radical change in immigration rules including eliminating all limits on multiple citizenship for people becoming German and I would have to assume that this would go also for Germans getting other non-EU citizenships. This has been covered on other threads. Last I read it was not yet passed but it sounded like it was just a matter of time. Thus getting informed about the details of the new rules and having some patience for them to come into effect could save one a lot of trouble.