Too little too late!

While it is a step in the right direction let us not forget that there is an election coming up. Mr. Howard knows how to gain access to the votes of dinkum Australians.

Now look at the loophole below (“but anyone found to be illiterate would be assessed in different ways.”) Please explain!

Mr. Howard as I have previously said , the first major party which has the guts to announce a reversal of the immigration policy as well as deport useless bludgers will win by a landslide. Both public opinion polls and the mighty scare that was given by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party which closed the ranks of mortal political enemies gave you proved that. 

From News .com.au

PM defends citizenship, English tests

By Belinda Tasker

December 11, 2006 07:51pm

Article from: AAP

PRIME Minister John Howard insists tough new rules forcing migrants wanting citizenship to pass tests in English are not aimed at keeping some people out of Australia.

Federal cabinet today ticked off plans to introduce the new rules, under which migrants will have to wait four years to apply for citizenship and be able to speak English.

They will also be forced to sit an internet-based multiple-choice quiz of 30 questions testing their knowledge of Australian history, culture, values and government.

The Government flagged plans for the new rules in September, sparking controversy from some ethnic groups, including Muslim leaders, who branded them discriminatory.

But Mr Howard today defended the need for the tests and said he did not expect them to discourage migrants coming to Australia.

"It's not designed in any way to keep some people out and encourage others to come in," he said.

"This is not a negative discriminatory test, this is a test that affirms the desirability of more fully integrating newcomers into the mainstream of Australian society.

"This is about cohesion and integration, it's not about discrimination and exclusion."

Legislation outlining the new rules is expected to be introduced to parliament next year, meaning they could be in place before the coming federal election.

All migrants aged between 18 and 60 wanting to become Australian citizens will be tested.

Labor and the Australian Greens slammed the plans, which also require migrants who pass the citizenship test to sign a commitment to Australian social values such as freedom of religion, equality and obeying local laws.

"The weird part of all of this is a 30-question trivia quiz that the Government's wanting to impose," opposition citizenship spokesman Tony Burke said to ABC radio.

"I'm more interested in whether or not someone's going to be a loyal, hardworking Australian citizen than how useful they'd be at a trivia night."

Mr Howard dismissed concerns about the tests.

"It is designed, not as some kind of Trivial Pursuit, but is designed to ensure that people do understand and have a working capacity in the national language, which is English," he said.

"It will be similar in, I guess, design, although not in detail, to the citizenship test of many other countries."

Australian Multicultural Foundation executive director Hass Dellal said he hoped the Government would ensure migrants had access to flexible services to help prepare them for the citizenship tests.

He said many migrants needed time to adjust to life in Australia, with their main priorities being finding somewhere to live and work. (and learn how to extract taxpayer money without working for it. Added by N.M.)

"We need to allow for flexibility and diversity so they can adapt to the conditions and then access services like English language classes and orientation programs so they can learn in a comfortable amount of time," Mr Dellal said.

About 103,500 people were granted Australian citizenship in 2005-06, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.

Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration Andrew Robb said migrants could sit the tests as many times as they needed to, but anyone found to be illiterate would be assessed in different ways.

"It's one in, all in," he said.

"Everyone who comes and seeks citizenship, no matter whether it's from the UK or anywhere else, everyone will sit the test."