Posted on by Stilgherrian

Drop that goddam Citizenship Test, Senator Evans!

I agree with Tim Dunlop: “Just dump the stupid, politically motivated, shallow, ill-conceived thing.”

Today The Age reports that fear of failure is turning away potential citizens in droves.

Some migrants were too frightened to apply to become Australians because they feared they would be deported if they failed the controversial citizenship test, Immigration Minister Chris Evans has admitted…

Just 16,024 migrants applied to be citizens between January and March, compared with 38,850 at the same time last year.

I’ve written about this before, of course, both to point out how the whole concept is teh FAIL (to use current lingo), and how it was just pre-election dog-whistle politics anyway.

It’s pointless. I’m assuming there’s already a black market in the answers — though they’re in the book anyway. As one soon-to-be-citizen told me, “It’s all easy enough: 1. Barton. 2. Bradman. 3. Wattle.” And exactly how does that arcane knowledge prove you’re not a “bad person” in a way that isn’t covered by the police and other checks already in place?

Senator Evans, ruling out scrapping the test but setting up a committee to analyse its impact is just wasting taxpayers’ money. Just make a cup of tea, get yourself an Iced Vo-Vo or two, and work through the logic yourself. If you can, that is.

Possibly related posts

2 Replies to “Drop that goddam Citizenship Test, Senator Evans!”

  1. And while we’re at it, let’s drop school exams, everyone knows they don’t prove anything. And airport photo ID checks – since when does that prove anything?

    So many things to drop to make our lives easier.

    Really, if someone can’t make the effort to pass that test then why let them in? On one hand it’s supposedly massively easy and basic, and on the other hand people are “scared” of it. Weird.

    Sounds like a tofu eating, pot smoking, dole bludging, limp wristed, daisy chained leftist beat up to me!

    Oh, I just described myself. Is there an authority I can hand myself into?

  2. @jason: I’m not against tests. I’m against tests that don’t actually deliver an analysis of whatever it is the test is supposed to be measuring. Joined-up logic etc. But of course we’ve been here before… let’s not repeat ourselves.

    Instead, I’ll quote Petro Georgiou, Liberal Member for Kooyong, from yesterday’s Crikey:

    What I have seen of the content and operation of the new citizenship test confirms the fears I expressed before it was introduced — it’s an unreasonable and unfair barrier for prospective citizens. The number of people applying has plummeted to lower levels than we’ve had for a decade, which indicates that its impact has been social exclusion rather than inclusion. I am pleased the review committee’s terms of reference are broad and the members known to me — Richard Woolcott, Paula Masselos and Professor Kim Rubinstein — are of high calibre. At the very least, I anticipate the committee will pinpoint the harshest and most arbitrary features that need to be changed, and recommend more assistance for those most seriously disadvantaged by the new regime. I would like to see the restoration of the previous test, which served us well for decades and was scrapped without sound reasons.

    There’s an interesting list!

Comments are closed.