Fed: Howard defends new citizenship tests

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2006
Fed: Howard defends new citizenship tests

By Belinda Tasker

SYDNEY, Dec 11 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard insists tough new rules forcing migrants
wanting citizenship to pass tests in English are not aimed at keeping some people out
of Australia.

Federal cabinet today ticked off plans to introduce the new rules, under which migrants
will have to wait four years to apply for citizenship and be able to speak English.

They will also be forced to sit an internet-based multiple-choice quiz of 30 questions
testing their knowledge of Australian history, culture, values and government.

The government flagged plans for the new rules in September, sparking controversy from
some ethnic groups, including Muslim leaders, who branded them discriminatory.

But Mr Howard today defended the need for the tests and said he did not expect them
to discourage migrants coming to Australia.

"It's not designed in any way to keep some people out and encourage others to come
in," he told reporters.

"This is not a negative discriminatory test, this is a test that affirms the desirability
of more fully integrating newcomers into the mainstream of Australian society.

"This is about cohesion and integration, it's not about discrimination and exclusion."

Legislation outlining the new rules is expected to be introduced to parliament next
year, meaning they could be in place before the coming federal election.

All migrants aged between 18 and 60 wanting to become Australian citizens will be tested.

Labor and the Australian Greens slammed the plans, which also require migrants who
pass the citizenship test to sign a commitment to Australian social values such as freedom
of religion, equality and obeying local laws.

"The weird part of all of this is a 30-question trivia quiz that the government's wanting
to impose," opposition citizenship spokesman Tony Burke told ABC radio.

"I'm more interested in whether or not someone's going to be a loyal, hardworking Australian
citizen than how useful they'd be at a trivia night."

Mr Howard dismissed concerns about the tests.

"It is designed, not as some kind of Trivial Pursuit, but is designed to ensure that
people do understand and have a working capacity in the national language, which is English,"

he said.

"It will be similar in, I guess, design, although not in detail, to the citizenship
test of many other countries."

Australian Multicultural Foundation executive director Hass Dellal said he hoped the
government would ensure migrants had access to flexible services to help prepare them
for the citizenship tests.

He said many migrants needed time to adjust to life in Australia, with their main priorities
being finding somewhere to live and work.

"We need to allow for flexibility and diversity so they can adapt to the conditions
and then access services like English language classes and orientation programs so they
can learn in a comfortable amount of time," Mr Dellal said.

About 103,500 people were granted Australian citizenship in 2005-06, an 11 per cent
increase on the previous year.

Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration Andrew Robb said migrants could sit the tests
as many times as they needed to, but anyone found to be illiterate would be assessed in
different ways.

"It's one in, all in," he said.

"Everyone who comes and seeks citizenship, no matter whether it's from the UK or anywhere
else, everyone will sit the test."

AAP bt/was/imc/jlw

KEYWORD: CITIZENSHIP NIGHTLEAD (WITH FACTBOX)

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