Australia to have English tests for new citizens

Daily Mail ^ | September 15th, 2006 | Daily Mail

[NoCalEyes]

Australia will demand new citizens pass an English language test and sign up to undefined Australian values, Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday, but denied any racist overtones in the coming policy.

Howard said the conservative government was also considering lifting to four years from three the wait for new immigrants to become an Australian and imposing a "fairly firm" test on knowledge of Australian history.

"It won't become more difficult if you're fair dinkum, and most people who come to this country are fair dinkum about becoming part of the community," Howard told Australian radio, falling back on a local slang term for genuine.

Australia is a nation of immigrants, with nearly one in four of the country's 20 million people born overseas.

Almost six million people have settled since 1945 and Australia plans to accept about 144,000 new immigrants in 2006-07.

But the government is concerned the rapid transformation could fuel tensions and is determined to make sure new arrivals leave divisive national, religious and ethnic allegiances behind.

Race riots between young Muslims and mainly-white surfers flared in Sydney's southern beach suburbs in December 2005.

Howard said the English test would not be a return to the kind of tests used until the 1950s that excluded mainly-Asian migrants under the "White Australia" policy.

But new citizens in future would need to know more about the Australian way of life.

Australia's opposition leader Kim Beazley this week drew criticism, including from within his own left-leaning Labor Party, after calling for tourists and immigrants to sign a pledge to uphold Australian values on their visa applications.

One national newspaper carried cartoons of new arrivals queuing at customs booths and being forced to drink cans of beer as grim-faced border guards looked on.

Kerry Nettle, a Senator from the left-leaning Australian Greens party, accused Howard of mounting a political fear campaign with the new test.

"The prime minister should shut up and stop scaring people for cynical political advantage," she said.

But Howard said he could not understand criticism of the English language tests.

"The great unifying thing about this country is language," he said

[edcoil]

Can one of our friends downunder tell me what the ratio of conservative vs liberal breakdown is in the current government?

Can this get done?

[BW2221]

George Bush is a compassionate conservative (conservative when it suits his purposes). John Howard is a real conservative.

[domenad]

I tell you, I love Australia.

[mikeus_maximus]

The more I hear about that country, the more I wish I had a transportable career.

[RightWhale]

sign up to undefined Australian values

Seems fair dinkum. Who wouldn't want to be fair dinkum?

[The Great RJ]

Ther was a time when this was the law in the US too. My great grandfather had to speak, read and write English before he could get his citizenship.

[dangus]

Crikey! M'Shiela, M'ankle-biter 'n'me 's'it's heapsa'acid if da blokes kin nut out a nipper to save bikkies on da Uni teaching strine to reffos!

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[dangus]

(translation:
Wow! My wife, my kid and I say it's very good if the guys can hammer out a solution to save money on the college teaching Australian English to refugees!)

[Gay State Conservative]

Crikey! Imagine an English speaking country wanting *all* of its citizens to speak English.

Shocking! Simply shocking!

[Gay State Conservative]

Next,that facist Howard will require that they all know the words to Waltzing Matilda.

[TrebleRebel]

G'day, 3 schooners of VB mate.

Translation: Hello, may I have 3 pints of your best Victoria Bitter, stout yoeman?

[BW2221]

"Next,that fascist Howard will require that they all know the words to Waltzing Matilda."

Not a bad idea.

You have to remember that during the 1960s and 1970s Canada and Australia encouraged immigration from everywhere, so the percentage of Muzzies is higher than ours.

[xp38]

You'd have to start prouncing z as zed and spell a few words differently. They drive smaller vehicles and on the opposite side like the UK. The banknotes are wild colours and come in different sizes depending on the amount. Start liking cricket and rugby compared to say baseball and football. The seasons are opposite the US. Christmas weather is like July 4th. The Liberal party is actually the conservative one down there. Labour is the socialist one. You can probably fake or learn the accent and lingo over time but you will stand out with an American accent. Its population is quite small in comparison to the US. You better know the metric system or you soon will since the old imperial system is pretty much gone. Its a great place nevertheless but it is different however you slice it.

[Vasilli22]

bump

[GOP_1900AD]

Good.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

A good start.
A better idea would be to close the borders and pay normal families to have children.

[scooter2]

The more I hear about that country, the more I wish I had a transportable career.

Hope you aren't a gun owner.

[jordan8]

Language is a cop out, the real issues are race and culture, which the elite in the West just can't face (if they're conservative) or openly favor making their own people a minority (if they're leftists or minorities). The truth is that most immigrants will come to speak English so it's not much of an issue. Language is a substitute for the argument that dare not speak its name lest those who do get charged with the modern Western equivalent of heresy, like someone running down Allah in Pakistan.