Labor condemns citizenship test changes as ‘bizarre act of snobbery’

Labor slams citizenship changes as political “overreach” which would fundamentally change Australian society for the worse.

Tony Burke and Bill Shorten in the House of Representatives. Picture: Ray Strange.

Labor MPs have unanimously agreed to oppose the government’s citizenship changes, attacking the overhaul as a massive political “overreach” which would fundamentally change Australian society for the worse.

The decision sets up a heated political showdown with the Coalition after Malcolm Turnbull linked the citizenship shake-up to Australia’s national security and Liberal MPs raised concerns over a possible link between new arrivals and terrorism.

Opposition’s citizenship spokesman Tony Burke today said the government’s legislation represented a step that “Australia should never take” and imposed new conditions which were “inconsistent with who we are as a country.”

He slammed the proposed tougher English language requirements as a “bizarre act of snobbery,” arguing the government was asking citizenship applicants to speak and read at a university entrance level.

The result would mean more and more residents being denied citizenship by the government, Mr Burke said.

“This introduces permanently in Australia a large group of people — an increasingly large group of people — who will always live here, will never be asked to take allegiance to this country and will always be told by the Australian government they don’t completely belong,” he said. “Now that is a big change ... It’s a change Labor cannot support.”

Mr Burke also denied the Labor position meant there was now a rift in the bipartisan consensus on national security, arguing the changes were intended as a purely political move to launch the leadership aspirations of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

“It’s a leadership campaign for Peter Dutton,” he said. “It’s a very silly game, and a very dangerous game. Because he’s not just playing with some random law here or there. He’s talking about the thing that defines who we are as a nation.”

Mr Burke noted the citizenship shake-up was not proposed by Australia’s national security or intelligence agencies, but was instead devised in response to a national consultation led by NSW Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

“This is not national security legislation,” he said. “It only applies to people who are already permanent residents. By definition, everybody who is affected by this is a person who Australia has already said should live here and live here permanently.”

Labor will refer the bill to a Senate inquiry, with Mr Burke saying that any constructive recommendations would be supported by the Opposition so long as they were not included in the government’s bill.

Speaking to today’s caucus meeting Bill Shorten told Labor MPs the shake-up would alienate some members of society.

“Of course we believe everyone should sign-up to our values,” the Opposition Leader told MPs.

“(But) there are some government measures which will alienate people who are already permanently living here.”

Mr Shorten said the government already had the power to change questions in the citizenship test and noted it was already in English — questioning the need for the shake-up.

“Demanding university level English sends a message to every Australian that there are two sorts of Australian and it’s only the ones who reach university level English who the government really wants,” Mr Shorten said.

Mr Burke continued the attack shortly after caucus concluded, slamming the key features of the government’s overhaul.

He said the requirement that citizenship be conferred on permanent residents after four years instead of one year sent the wrong message to the world.

“How can it be good for Australia to be further delaying whether or not someone takes allegiance to this country?” he said.

“It’s not just whether its good for that individual. How can it be good for Australia to be saying we’ve got someone who is ready to fully be part of this society and the Australian government’s going to stand in their way?”

Mr Burke said the English language test would require citizenship applicants to master the language at a university level, noting that a “very large” number of people born in the country would still fail to meet this threshold.

“What sort of snobbery leads a government to say, unless you reach university level of English we’d rather you weren’t here?” he said. “It’s no leap of logic to say we are talking about a fundamental change in our country.”

Malcolm Turnbull swooped on the Labor position, accusing Bill Shorten of disregarding the value of Australian citizenship while Mr Dutton was optimistic the changes could still pass the Senate with crossbench support.

The Prime Minister said the government was “doing people a favour” by insisting on tougher English language skills and took issue with Labor’s objection to the increase in the permanent residency inquiry from one to four years.

“That is a lesser period than most other comparable countries,” Mr Turnbull said. “Labor is not valuing Australian citizenship. They are disrespecting Australian citizenship.”

“The Labor Party does not value Australian citizenship enough to say, as we do, that it must be more than simply the outcome of an administrative tick and flick form-filling process,” he said.

“Australian citizen, the title, the role of Australian citizen is the most important in our democracy. Surely we care enough about our democracy, about that citizenship to say that it should be given, granted to people who make a commitment to our nation and share our values.”

Mr Dutton said the outcome showed that Labor was divided on national security as they had been on border security.

“This demonstrates to all Australians that Labor is completely divided on the citizenship bill,” he said. “The Left are ruling internally.”

“There is a much deeper current running here and it is clear to me that Bill Shorten has not been able to contain the Left of his party again on one of these very important issues to the future of this country, to the fabric of our society, to national security and many other aspects that are part of the government’s push here to tighten up the legislation.”

“Don’t fall for this rhetoric around one to four years and English language. That is not what is happening here.”

The government’s overhaul will increase the permanent residency obligation from one year to four; toughen the English language requirement; strengthen the citizenship test to assess commitment to Australian values and force applicants to demonstrate their integration into the community.

All citizenship applicants will also need to pledge allegiance to Australia with exemptions for only some individuals with physical or mental disabilities.