Piers Akerman: You don’t like it here in Australia? Feel free to leave

INCREASING residency from one year to four and tightening the English language requirements don’t seem onerous burdens, nor does the upholding of Australian values.

New Australian citizens should adapt to our values, Piers Akerman writes.

THE arguments against strengthening our citizenship laws are backfiring badly.

Two submissions to the Senate’s inquiry into the proposed amendments highlight the problems of maintaining the fiction of a successful multicultural society when patently all cultures are not equal.

Under the spotlight are projected changes relating to such issues as automatic acquisition of citizenship, permanent residency requirements and ­English language proficiency; the definitions of “spouse” and “de facto” partner and various other extended family relationships; the good character requirements; the bar on ­approval for citizenship where there are related criminal ­offences; revocation of citizenship by descent and aspects of ministerial power.

According to submissions received by the Senate committee, Muslims and some ­people of Middle Eastern origin feel the proposed changes will deal “a significant blow’’ to Australia’s multiculturalism.

One submission from a group of Muslim academics ­argues that the changes will ­reinforce the message “that migrant cultures are not compatible with the values that govern Australia”.

Waving the victimhood card, the newly formed Australian Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies group ­argues that despite the cultural and economic contribution of migrants to Australia, they get the blame when things sour.

“Many Australian political leaders and media reports ­associate migrants (and the communities they form) with ills affecting society. This is particularly true of Muslims following terror attacks,” their submission says, according to The Australian newspaper.

New citizens should adapt to Australian values, Piers Akerman writes.

Curiously, the group singles out what it calls last year’s “triumphalist pronouncements” by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that Australia is the “most successful and harmonious multicultural nation in the world”.

It says his words were met “with considerable cynicism and astonishment’’, and his article tying multiculturalism with secure borders “appeared to be another example of a senior politician conflating multiculturalism with security to score political points”.

In a similar fashion, the CEO of a body called Multicultural Youth South Australia, Tamara Stewart-Jones, told the Senate inquiry young ­people from Middle Eastern backgrounds can feel rejected by Australian society.

“Accusations of being ‘terrorists’ and also ‘queue jumpers’ suggest that they are undeserving of their place in Australian society, and this ­unsurprisingly has a major ­impact on young people’s ability to successfully settle in Australia,” she said.

All of which makes one wonder which Australia they are talking about.

Increasing residency from one year to four and tightening the English language requirements don’t seem onerous burdens, nor does the upholding of Australian values.

The citizenship pledge asks for “loyalty to Australia and its People”, a shared commitment to the nation’s democratic beliefs, respect for its rights and liberties and for the upholding and observance of its laws.

As the worst terrorist atrocities committed and those planned and thwarted in recent times have been ­undertaken by Muslims who support Islamist terrorism it is understandable why some Muslims are a little touchy but they have only members of their community to blame.

The degree of Muslim alienation from mainstream Australian society has been highlighted by the antics of the silly Yassmin Abdel-Magied and the self-promoting Waleed Aly who have been ­enthusiastically supported by so-called progressives while they decry the very system in which they have flourished.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Picture: Chris Pavlich

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the changes are meant to have an impact at a time when the government wants people to respect Australian citizenship.

He is correct. Australian citizenship should be a privilege, not a right.

However, some people just aren’t interested in joining their fellow Australians or even attempting to understand their language.

In discussing the proposed changes, Dutton didn’t refer to past and current terrorism cases or point to the fact that in NSW the police force has found it necessary to form a Middle Eastern Crime squad, choosing instead to note the problems Victoria has had with gang violence committed by young people who certainly don’t meet the character test.

Under the current government, the number of criminals who have had their visas cancelled has significantly increased (more than 1200) and the proposed changes are ­intended to ensure that those who don’t wish to obey our laws or respect our nation get the chance to stay.

Keeping Australians safe does mean that the government wants to extend from one year to four years permanent residency so prospective citizens can demonstrate that, if they’re of working age, they have been working. If their children are of school age, they have been enrolled in school and that they are attending, and of course they can speak English at a competent level.

Labor, which relies on Muslim votes, has expressed concern at the proposed changes and will seek to water down the amendments.

Muslims are certainly not alone in practising objectionable cultural practices. Some fundamentalist followers do however happen to be world leaders in practising female genital mutilation and the murder of homosexuals.

It is not too much to ask that they leave these abominable customs at the door when they come to ­Australia.

If they find they cannot live without their cultural niceties in our civilisation they are free to live elsewhere.