Many people are asking the Rudd Government to review the Howard Government’s Australian Citizenship Test as to its fairness. The Ethnic Communities’ Council claims that the test is discriminatory as many candidates for citizenship have failed the test. Many countries, including the United Kingdom, subject potential citizens to such a test to ascertain their understanding of the values of their newly adopted country. Such a test is reasonable as long as it is truly relevant to the community standards of the country of adoption, however, many people born in Australia would have difficulty in answering some of the questions and find it difficult to reconcile their relevance to Australian life.
Relevant questions should relate to the attitudes of Australian life such as: respect for the rights of each individual as long as these rights do not infringe on the rights of others, respect for each individual to hold beliefs in and practise freely the religion of their choice, respecting and treating women and children as having equal rights as citizens of Australia, regarding such practices as female genital mutilation as totally unacceptable in our civilised society, the right to vote in elections for the candidate of their choice, to accept and obey the laws of Australia irrespective of whether one agrees with them or not, obligation to pay the prescribed taxes as determined by the various governments, to regard each Australian as equal irrespective of their race, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, religion and political views.
This list is far more relevant than asking dates in Australia’s history or the names of sporting heroes. Such questions do not make towards a good citizen but questions on societal standards and human rights will ascertain that the new citizens will join our harmonious Australian family and enhance it.
