Migrants face tougher English tests with Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge considering expanding English language requirements

THE Turnbull Government is reportedly considering expanding English-language tests for migrants, warning Australia’s multiculturalism model is at risk.

AUSTRALIA’S Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge says Australia’s multicultural model is under threat by lower integration rates and falling English-language skills.

The Australian reports that Mr Tudge will make a call tonight to expand English-language tests and require a demonstrated commitment to Australian values in a speech to the Menzies Research Institute in Sydney.

Mr Tudge said that Australia’s multiculturalism model was the most successful in the world but that it needed some fine tuning.

He said with more than a quarter of new migrants now unable to speak English, the Senate needed to pass amendments to the Citizenship Act as a priority.

Alan Tudge says he will consider rolling out expanded English language tests for migrants. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Tudge says in the speech that there is increased evidence in Australia of ethnic clustering.

“I want to sound a note of caution: Australian multiculturalism is not God-given and cannot be taken for granted,” he says.

Mr Tudge’s speech is part of a push by the government to reintroduce its citizenship laws, which Labor and the Greens have blocked in the Senate.

Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge during Question Time. Picture: AAP

“More people from more countries have come here to start a new life than almost any other nation and we have generally been able to maintain strong social cohesion in the process,” he will say.

“But I want to sound a note of caution: Australian multiculturalism is not God-given and cannot be taken for granted.

“Indeed, there is emerging evidence that we are not integrating as well as what we have done in the past. Moreover, there are external factors that weren’t present even a decade ago that make integration more challenging.”

Mr Tudge urges the Senate to pass government amendments to the Citizenship Act to raise language skills, citing evidence that a quarter of all new arrivals are unable to speak English.

Originally published as Migrants face tougher English tests with Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge considering expanding English language requirements