Why has the Albanese government lowered the minimum English requirement for would-be immigrants?

To replace the population with left wing voters more quickly?
Because better educated people don't wish to live in Australia?

Assimilation and employment suitability are clearly not a requirement for the far-Left government.

The reduction is a “significant drop” in English ability requirements from being “able to understand sentences and frequently used expressions” to a person who “can only understand and use familiar, everyday expressions and VERY BASIC PHRASES".

The move is “reckless and out of touch with the pressures facing Australians”, according to Andrew Hastie, who has apparently forgotten that his own party previously hankered after a Big Australia.

But, the Albanese government imported a million people in its first two years in government - 70% more than any other two year period.

Instead of moderating immigration, Labor is increasing immigration; worse, it is increasing numbers with people who are not proficient in the language of the country they wish to live in.

Multiculturalism, ghettos, identity politics have now made it easy for a political class, interested only in creating opposing groups they can control, and encouraging those separate groups to operate and seek favours unavailable to others, to continue, on a large scale, to steadily increase the Balkanisation of Australia.

In the 1980s, American author William Lind, evoked the idea of “fourth generation warfare”: where the distinction between war and peace would be blurred. China's treatment of Australia and the rest of the West almost half a century later is fourth generation warfare.

Australia and most other Western countries have allowed their enemies, Chinese Communists and Islamist through their gates without a shot being fired. Mass immigration has played a part in conquering Western values and culture; particularly as unprincipled politicians view immigrants, no longer encouraged to assimilate, only in terms of votes and taxes.

Given time, and unless more people start taking notice of what is also called ‘grey warfare’, the West will disappear; Australia and other countries will be just like those the immigrants came from.

Who needs a conventional war to get what they want! China knows it has Australia where it wants it. The recent mischievous naval demonstration by CCP naval units off our coast, and Albanese's excuses for it, clearly showed Xi that he has Albanese in his pocket, and that there is no reason to threaten Australia physically. China’s fourth generation war victory is almost won already. Total victory will occur sometime in the future, unless Donald Trump and America lose all patience and rescue us from Albanese and the likes of the diffidently grinning, gawky-looking schoolgirl supposed to be opposing Albanese.

WTF?

It has been pointed out to ttbn many times in the past that English is not Australia's official language.

Australia has no official language but it is difficult to navigate through society if you struggle with English.

Thousands have learned their English after arriving in the past and many more will in the future.

Regardless of one's position on current immigration numbers any regular readers on this forum see this for what it is.

Just another opportunity for ttbn to rage against those who are different to him.

ttbn,

The “lowering” you’re talking about applies only to certain temporary visa subclasses. The English requirements for students and graduates have actually increased. Your CEFR “significant drop” example is cherry-picked without context, and higher-proficiency requirements remain in other streams.

The changes are a refinement to better meet our needs, not a loosening of requirements.

Permanent residents can’t vote, and it takes years to gain citizenship - so the idea of “importing more Labor voters” doesn’t hold up. By the time new citizens can vote, their political leanings are shaped by years of lived experience here, and many migrant communities lean socially conservative. They’re also overrepresented among small business owners, who tend to favour the Coalition's economic policies.

The “million people in two years” figure reflects pandemic catch-up and includes large numbers of temporary entrants like students and working holiday makers - not just permanent settlers with low English. Australia remains a top destination for skilled migrants and students. The challenge is processing times and global competition, not a lack of interest from the “better educated.”

Speaking of which, aren't you lot always banging on about how the "better educated" vote Green and Labor anyway?

Ironically, these changes could just as easily create more future Coalition voters as Labor ones.

Something about Multilingual Australia.

Obviously, they acknowledge the ‘traditional owners’ of Boorloo: which is what the people they acknowledge call Perth, the place where MA gathers.

They announce that 429 languages are spoken in Australia; that 183 of them are indigenous languages, and 16,000 people use ‘Auslan’ at home. Auslan, is not so much a ‘language’ as it is ‘signing’ as used by deaf people.

English doesn’t get a separate mention even though 72% of Australians, 18.3 million, speak only English.

Multilingual Australia is “dedicated” to creating a “language-friendly Australia”, bless them.

They are supposed to have been founded by “parents” in 2002, but don’t seem to have expanded beyond Perth since then. They are funded by the state government.

Apart from amusing themselves, they don't seem to have achieved much. The 2024 Census revealed that only 24.8% of people in Australia were bilingual - let alone multilingual, and only 22.3% of them spoke a language other than English in the home.

Nick Cater realises that relaxing English requirements is an “act of national self-harm”.

It is. But the Australian political class will benefit. They are interested in what they can squeeze out of the nation before they have to escape to somewhere nice, like Switzerland.

Nick thinks “thoughtlessness” is the kindest explanation for the Assistant Immigration Minister's trashing of the importance of the English language in an English-speaking country.

On the contrary, I think a lot of thought has gone into the decision, in the quest for more ignorant people who will vote Labor out of gratitude.

Note “assistant” . Think: the monkey doing the organ-grinder's job; or, why does it take two to make such a mess of the portfolio? Or, are two ministers needed to speed up the population replacement policy?

A person who can score only the new requirement of 24 out of 30 has only a “rudimentary” knowledge of English; which wouldn't get him into even wet-Left Canada on a work visa.

They couldn't get into the UK either, if they tried the legal way.

Worse than ‘not much English’ is some fool's recent suggestion that “ … the Australian citizenship test be conducted in languages other than English”!

Apparently, a group of Fifth Columnists called itself ‘Multilingual Australia’ has deemed that there is a “tendency” to view Australia through the “narrow prism” of an “English-speaking society” which is muddying the waters of cultural, ethnic and religious inclusion,

Auslan is a language, ttbn.

It has its own grammar and syntax, independent of English, and is recognised in Australia as the primary language of the Deaf community. Dismissing it as “just signing” is like dismissing any other minority language.

English remains overwhelmingly dominant in Australia. The Census shows 72% speak only English at home, and most who speak another language are also fluent in English. Multilingual Australia’s advocacy isn’t about replacing English - it’s about inclusion for communities that already exist here, and it doesn’t remove English from public life.

Regarding the visa changes, a PTE score of 24 is not “24 out of 30.” PTE is scored on a scale from 10 to 90, and 24 equates to IELTS 4.5 - “functional English” under our migration framework. That’s enough for basic communication, and most entrants continue improving their English after arrival. At the same time, requirements for students and graduates have actually gone up.

Finally, the “grateful Labor voters” conspiracy theory still faces the same problems:

- permanent residents can’t vote,
- citizenship takes years,
- and many migrant communities lean socially conservative - and sometimes economically - sometimes aligning more with the Coalition’s positions than Labor’s.

If that’s a Labor vote-harvesting scheme, it’s a spectacularly inefficient one.

G'day John,

My experience with migrants from non-English speaking countries over about 40 years, is the majority speak fairly reasonable English, as a second language, men more so than women. Those with Tertiary educations, generally speak very good English. Indians are really a surprise they probably speak better English than ttbn.

p/s Had an Australian woman to deal with yesterday, at crises central, her lingo went something like this; "I f'n told him, I had f'n had enough, he's just F'n... f up! Doesn't f'n know what he's f'n do'n" That's a f'n true story, maybe she should be deported back to F'nville where she came from!

If you're interested ttbn there is a protest against high levels of immigration on the 31st August in all states.

http://marchforaustralia.org/

This is similar to many recent protests around the world. I understand even the apparently "immigration extremist" Trudeau has been forced to backflip on immigration.

http://www.newsweek.com/justin-trudeau-admits-immigration-mistakes-canada-changes-policy-1988094

"
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government "made some mistakes" on immigration while outlining the country's plans to reduce the number of immigrants arriving under its permanent residency program over the next three years.

In YouTube videos posted on Sunday, Trudeau made the remarks in English and French, saying, "Bad actors, like fake colleges and big chain corporations, have been exploiting our immigration system for their own interests.
The prime minister said, "Far too many colleges and universities used international students to raise their bottom line because they could charge these students tens of thousands of dollars more for the same degree."

He continued, "There are really bad actors who outright exploit people, who target vulnerable immigrants with promises of jobs, diplomas and easy pathways to citizenship—promises that would never come true."
"

But Australia's extreme genocidal immigration policy seems to be at even greater levels.

Many Australian inner cities districts have been taken over by international student slums.

Better to be racist than dead...

We the founding culture of Australia need to create a nation that ensures the survival of our children. We can't help everyone on the Earth. It is the responsibility of other cultures to look after their children's future.

For thousands of years cultures have had to protect their interests from outsiders seeking to exploit their discipline and productivity, this time is no different. There are many ways that outsiders will seek to take your belongings.

If our culture is to serve as an example to the world, our culture must survive. If the world don't want to follow our example that is their choice.

It's cowardice to suicide western culture, in a slow death of dissolution, to a nihilistic world.

We don't tell outsiders how to live, and we don't let others tell us.

If outsiders want to learn from us, mostly we have been happy to explain.

Better to be racist than dead!

Good points, Paul.

The data I’ve seen lines up with your experience, and that example you gave of the woman at crisis central is perfect.

Mate, you know what I reckon? Fckin’… I reckon we round the lot of ’em up and shoot ’em, rite? I mean, the fckin’ abbos are comin’ ’ere by the boatload, mate!

Fckin’… I seen this one darky the other day, rite - the ones with the towels around their fckin’ heads - I seen him linin’ up at fckin’ Centrelink.

Mate, me and the missus gotta support the fckin’ kids, rite? How we supposed to do that when we’re supportin’ him too? Sinkin’ a carton of piss every night ain’t makin’ it any fckin’ easier - I'll tell ya that much!

And they’re takin’ all our fckin’ jobs, mate! If I lose me job, where am I gonna get a new one?

Fckin’ Schrödinger’s immigrants, I tell ya.

G'day John,

I mentioned somewhere here about a Tamil mate. They came to Australia 2 1/2 years ago he's a qualified engineer on the skilled migration program. Got a very good job, rented a house, bought a new car,now saving hard to buy their own place. They have just had their second daughter. Surprisingly their oldest daughter when she went to primary school here, she was year 7, but she was well ahead with reading, writing, mathematics, was about 2 years above her class average. Funny story, when they arrived I naturally said we'll go for dinner, "I know a nice local Indian restaurant", my mate said; "Can we go elsewhere, we eat curry at home all the time, we're going out." So I took them to a Turkish place. He spent some years working in Germany, said there's really good Turkish restaurants in Germany. The fact is there are a very normal family.

Even the oldest daughter shows me up, I asked her; "Do you like McDonalds?" she replied; "Yes, but do you know its not good for you, its very bad for you."....."What about K Fried?" I said do you know the ABC? she looked at me like I was stupid, then proceed to rattle off A to Z in double quick time. Gee, you're smarter than me, hummmm. I'm sure that girl is 9 going on 35.

CM

I'm not a fan of mass demonstrations no matter the cause. Mass movements attract people who lack confidence in themselves as individuals; and they don't achieve anything. The ballot box is the place to make changes, and Australians made it clear that a far Left, authoritarian, anti-American government is what they want. It cannot be denied. I have no sympathy for the average Australian, but I do recognise that our ridiculous voting system needs replacing if we really want to punish errant politicians, who sometimes “admit” their wrong-doing (Trudeau) but keep on doing it; and if they are forced to go, the drones replace them with someone just the same: a bit like battered wives who discard a brutal husband, but replace him with something similar.

The illegal Sydney Harbour Bridge demonstration of hatred and stupidity is just one example of good-for-nothing mob anger that won't achieve anything. Netanyahu has got even tougher, and publicly branded Israel's erstwhile ally as ‘shameful’.

Most of the participants were unknown nutjobs; with a few known nutjobs: Julian Assange, Antoinette Lattouf, Mehreen Faruqi, Libertarian John Ruddick, and Bob Carr; and a big photo of Muslim murderer Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Just the sort of rabble Australia needs to be identified with!

A few Labor MPs were not important enough to be identified.

Gone is the time when Australia was celebrated as a place where there was no room for the hostilities of the old world. All for nothing. Life will go on elsewhere despite idiots ruining our reputation.

The biggest laugh is the draconian desire to ban ‘hate-speech’ while condoning it to the whole world on an Australian icon, and calling it a ‘peaceful demonstration’.

Paul,

Your Tamil mate’s story really illustrates how far reality is from the caricature some people paint.

If English proficiency and education are what keep a culture strong, then families like his aren’t a threat - they’re a boost. His daughter is already ahead of the curve academically, understands nutrition better than many adults, and will grow up bilingual in a country that could actually use more of that.

The funny thing is, if we’re being honest, a bigger challenge to “preserving Australian culture” isn’t skilled migrants with functional English - it’s the parts of Australian culture that wear low literacy, lack of education, and anti-intellectualism like a badge of honour.

If English ability is your yardstick for who’s “fit” to be here, then the real problem isn’t at the border, it’s in our own backyard.

Answer- Ttbn- The reason I'm promoting this demonstration is because it is a way to spread our message and keep people on message. There are many useful results of talking about our ideas amongst ourselves but many avenues for talking amongst ourselves or in public through the media are denied to people on the Traditionalist side of politics, even in our ostensibly democratic nation. As Elon Musk says traditionalists don't have access to the town square. It shows that many give lip service to democratic principles as long as the public doesn't have any real agency. But there is some risk to those attending rallies. The police seem to have crossed the line into politics, and authoritarian extremism. There is a risk of being doxed by our political enemies and loosing your job, family, etc for expressing your opinion. Our political enemies don't face the same challenges as we do, hopefully this is why we will win. I suspect in many cases the police facillitate the doxing of traditionalist's. But the police are downstream of Marxist/ Woke/ Labor governments in many cases and live under their own tyrannical threat over their jobs, families, children, future. John Locke, the father of liberal democracy, promoted governments free of gangs but sadly we just have bigger gangs, making Locke a mafia boss, and democracy "depositism".
Governments know that they made a mistake stopping the white Australia policy, so rather than admitting their mistake, and fixing it, they kick the can down the Marxist road, double down on the Marxist rhetoric, and stomp on free speech.
I believe that most of the problem lies in Marxist indoctrination through universities.
I would love to chat with you ttbn at a rally some day. So would many people I know.
Take care mate.

Ttbn- Remember we don't have to feed the ugly noisy trolls. We can talk to each other and to the empty space, filled with quiet minds waiting for a chance, that recognise manipulation, even if they don't know what to do about it. For every loud mouth there are ten quiet ears listening for wisdom. As you've said wisdom isn't created in the academy, the academy should be seeking the wise, but doesn't have the wisdom to do it. One definition- Wisdom is knowledge of how to use knowledge.

Ironically, Canem Malum, we’re in a “town square” right now!

Further to this:

- Sky, 2GB, Spectator, The Australian, Rebel News, and most on X say the same things daily to massive audiences.

- Neo-Nazi rallies have been held in recent years, filmed and reported on without the organisers vanishing into gulags.

- Multiple Senators and MPs push this exact rhetoric in Parliament - and on national TV.

- Facebook groups, Telegram channels, podcasts, and YouTube shows run 24/7 for “traditionalists,” all free to join.

- Even complaints about being silenced are broadcast… loudly… in real time… without consequence.

The microphone works just fine, it seems. The problem is that the messages have no basis in reality.