Post by lennie on Dec 11, 2006 5:08:06 GMT -5
Migrants to sit English test
The Federal Government will go ahead with a plan to introduce a citizenship test for migrants that will require applicants to have a basic understanding of English.
Prospective citizens will have to pass a computerised test that will also test their knowledge of the Australian way of life and history.
They will also have to sign a commitment to Australia's values and way of life.
Migrants seeking permanent residency and temporary visa holders planning to stay more than 12 months will also have to give an undertaking to comply with Australian laws and values.
Prime Minister John Howard says the changes are designed to remove divisions in Australian society.
"This is a test that affirms the desirability of more fully integrating newcomers into the mainstream of Australian society," he said.
"This is about cohesion and integration. It's not about discrimination and exclusion.
"It's not designed in anyway to keep some people out and encourage others to come in, that's not the purpose of it.
Mr Howard says the new test is a positive move.
"This is not a negative discriminatory test," he said.
"Nothing unites a country more than its common language because from a language comes a history and a culture."
Call for details
Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says he wants the Government to reveal more details about the citizenship test before he is ready to endorse it.
Mr Rudd says he is not opposed to the idea of an assessment for citizenship but wants to see copies of the tests people would have to sit.
"It's important that people coming to Australia to become citizens have a reasonable knowledge of what Australia is about but I'm not about to buy, sight unseen," he said.
"I want to see what the Government has in mind specifically and I think we'd like to examine that in some detail."
Labor's citizenship spokesman, Tony Burke, says he is broadly supportive of the plan but is sceptical about one of the values being promoted.
"The final value that's been referred to there is fair play and compassion in need," he said.
"And I think it's great if everyone becoming an Australian citizen believes in that, I just wish we had a Government which practiced that."
This is nothing more than a return to the Ideals of the "White Australia" policies. This is going backwards, not forward.
The Federal Government will go ahead with a plan to introduce a citizenship test for migrants that will require applicants to have a basic understanding of English.
Prospective citizens will have to pass a computerised test that will also test their knowledge of the Australian way of life and history.
They will also have to sign a commitment to Australia's values and way of life.
Migrants seeking permanent residency and temporary visa holders planning to stay more than 12 months will also have to give an undertaking to comply with Australian laws and values.
Prime Minister John Howard says the changes are designed to remove divisions in Australian society.
"This is a test that affirms the desirability of more fully integrating newcomers into the mainstream of Australian society," he said.
"This is about cohesion and integration. It's not about discrimination and exclusion.
"It's not designed in anyway to keep some people out and encourage others to come in, that's not the purpose of it.
Mr Howard says the new test is a positive move.
"This is not a negative discriminatory test," he said.
"Nothing unites a country more than its common language because from a language comes a history and a culture."
Call for details
Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says he wants the Government to reveal more details about the citizenship test before he is ready to endorse it.
Mr Rudd says he is not opposed to the idea of an assessment for citizenship but wants to see copies of the tests people would have to sit.
"It's important that people coming to Australia to become citizens have a reasonable knowledge of what Australia is about but I'm not about to buy, sight unseen," he said.
"I want to see what the Government has in mind specifically and I think we'd like to examine that in some detail."
Labor's citizenship spokesman, Tony Burke, says he is broadly supportive of the plan but is sceptical about one of the values being promoted.
"The final value that's been referred to there is fair play and compassion in need," he said.
"And I think it's great if everyone becoming an Australian citizen believes in that, I just wish we had a Government which practiced that."
This is nothing more than a return to the Ideals of the "White Australia" policies. This is going backwards, not forward.
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