Australian Citizenship Test Could Be Made Easier

[peter991]

Australian Citizenship Test Could Be Made Easier

The controversial citizenship test could be made easier in an effort to make it fairer, despite figures showing a 95 per cent pass rate.

The federal government has announced the makeup of the committee that will review the seven-month-old test, which was introduced by the Howard government.

The 20-question test is drawn from the Becoming an Australian Citizen resource book, and has been attacked as being unfair to migrants.

There are concerns that some questions - especially those that ask applicants to recall historical dates or sporting figures - may be inappropriate.

Despite figures in the latest citizenship snapshot report, released on Monday, showing a 95 per cent pass rate, the government says there are concerns about whether it is fair for migrants.

"There was a debate about whether the book was at the appropriate level of English," Immigration Minister Chris Evans said.

"It was supposed to be a basic level of English, but apparently during the course of the previous government's ... involvement in the writing of it, (the level) crept up to be what is considered by many to be a native speaker English standard.

"That's one of the issues."

The review will also look at making it fairer for people coming to Australia on humanitarian grounds.

"One of the concerns is whether it's fair on migrant groups," Senator Evans said.

"The results of the test are encouraging, the pass rates are high, but one of the areas that's been identified is the humanitarian stream.

"Those people who have arrived under the humanitarian scheme have lower pass rates, as you'd expect probably given their backgrounds and perhaps lack of familiarity with English."

However, the test will definitely be retained, and will continue to be in English.

"We are very keen to encourage citizenship from people who have decided to make Australia their homes," Senator Evans said.

"The citizenship test can play a constructive role in that pathway in helping people understand the rights and responsibilities of being an Australian citizen."

The review committee will be chaired by former diplomat Richard Woolcott and is due to report back by midway through the year.

The other members are Olympian and hockey player Rechelle Hawkes, SBS director Paula Masselos, refugee advocate Julianna Nkrumah, Australia Day Council chief Warren Pearson, retired former Chief of Navy Vice-Admiral Chris Ritchie and legal expert Professor Kim Rubenstein.

The snapshot report, which covers the citizenship testing done in the six months to the end of March, also shows an increase in the number of people taking the test.

It shows that 16,024 people sat the test in the first three months of 2008, compared to 9,043 in the final three months of 2007.

The test was introduced on October 1 last year.

The figures also show that people from more than 170 countries sat the test in the last six months, with 23,781 passing the test on the first attempt.

Peter

[david96]

The existing citizenship examination should be scrapped and replaced with one based on questions on the existing Political system, Federal, State and local Government, the Police and Judicial system, and the basic Administration (where to go for service and assistance.)

With regard to "Australian values" this statement should be removed and replaced with the statement" Western liberal democratic values"

The actual minimum level of English to pass this test would have to be determined by a compentent authority.

(IMHO We live in the present not the past)

[gburns57au]

The test is under review...

Lets wait and see what happens...

My personal thought is that once the migrant completes the AMES English course successfully then that should count towards the citizenship...it shows that the migrant has made a committment to assimilate into society.

[david96]

The test is under review...

Lets wait and see what happens...

My personal thought is that once the migrant completes the AMES English course successfully then that should count towards the citizenship...it shows that the migrant has made a committment to assimilate into society.

One would agree, a reasonable knowledge of the English language should be the main criteria plus a minimum residency period for Australian citizenship.

If English was your normal language you would of course be exempt from the language requirment.

The rest you can pick up as you go, the ability to earn a living is more important than useless facts and figures.

[Crushdepth]

The existing citizenship examination should be scrapped and replaced with one based on questions on the existing Political system, Federal, State and local Government, the Police and Judicial system, and the basic Administration (where to go for service and assistance.)

Much better idea. The existing test is a load of flag waving parochial crap conceived by a bunch of mean old bastards most of whom hadn't had a real job for 20 years, and who fail to realise that most 'normal' people think this kind of thing is stupid and/or kind of embarassing.

With regard to "Australian values" this statement should be removed and replaced with the statement" Western liberal democratic values"

Just scrap the rubbish about values entirely. The idea that there is some uniform set of 'values' in Australia and that everyone should conform to them is crap too. If they want to keep the 'Australian values' part of the test it should be renamed the 'The John Howard Similarity Index' and anyone that passes it should have their citizenship revoked.