Ha!

Cheers mate - I'll be sure to have a holy stubby and some fundy damper for you :)

Have a great one yourself.

@CJ Morgan
Sorry my mistake, I misunderstood you, your post was not very clear.
It is very difficult for refugees to pass the citizenship test, to become Australian citizens, most of them can not speak English, especially women, as they did not have the opportunity for education in their countries, Taliban did not allow women’ education at all.
These people have bad experiences from their countries and detention centers, they are under high stress, they need to belong in our country, they need to feel safe and secure, they need to be sure that they will not be deported in the future, that they will not have to repeat again the same hard experiences.
These people need our understanding and support but we ignore their conditions, their needs, we ask them to pass the citizenship test.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants became Australian citizens without any test, why now we put refugees in so difficult position?
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

why now we put refugees in so difficult position?
Symeonakis,
It goes without saying that many refugees are in desperate situations & need help. I don't believe for one moment that anyone would object to to that. Unfortunately, many people who present themselves as refugees may be genuine but once settled in another country the main objective appears to be establishing their particular enclaves rather than at least trying to assimilate. Others, come with less complimentary intentions towards the country which adopts them. That is the great dilemma when selecting as to whom to afford residency. One question I always ask myself is, why is it that so many who by religion or otherwise object to western society & yet it is nearly always a western country that they choose to apply for asylum to.

This is the second time I have to agree with CJM.

The citizenship test should apply to all and be part of the right to vote. That way we may get more Australiana and our history taught at schools, the lack of which is the reason many born here would now fail the test. Frankly, I would fail a lot of kids at present on English, both oral and written. Boys appear to be worse than girls.

Some posters may not be aware that, on application for citizenship, the applicant is given a booklet which contains all the answers and information that the test is made up from. It is not as though they have to research their own material in relation to the possible questions.

Good idea CJM, same as the theory for drivers licence.

@Banjo
you wrote "The citizenship test should apply to all and be part of the right to vote...Good idea CJM, same as the theory for drivers licence."
You mean the people who do not pass the test to lose their citizenship?
With your way a big part of Australians, mainly migrants from non English speaking background will lose their citizenship!
Is not the top democratic principle that all citizens are equal?
Do not you think that doubting citizens abilities to perform their duties, testing and excluding them we violate our democratic principles, that we abolish our democracy?
Do not you see the risk that if we start to withdraw the citizenship from Australians for any reason, with or without tests, then we open the way in the future an other government to extent or use it with an other way, withdrawing the citizenship from whole groups, on the base of their religious or national background or on the base of their professional, social or economic status?
Come an Banjo in a citizenship test the first who will lose his citizenship will be you!

@individual
Most of refugees stay close to their countries, for example ONLY a small part of Iraqi refugees have gone to western countries or in Australia, most of Iraqi refugees are in Syria, Jordan and other neighbor countries.
Do not you know why refugees prefer Australia or other western countries? If you was in their position will not you go to a western country?
individual democratic values and human rights are the base of our (western) civilization, let's support and extend them.
Australia is migrant's nation, there are Australians from all corners of the earth, refugees have friends or relatives in Australia, when we respect and support them we not only act according to our international obligation but also we improve the relations between Australians, we build bridges between Australians. Do not underestimate that the synthesis of Australian population have changed extremely fast, do not forget that last year 64% from the increase of Australian population was from migrants, mainly from Asian countries.

Antonis Symeonakis
Adelaide

Rightway,
What i am saying is that all those applying for citizenship, and those citizens, upon reaching voting age, should have to pass the test before gaining citizenship or being able to vote.

This would ensure that they knew the basics of our electoral system and society.

It was not a problem for born here citizens in the past because Australiana and our history was taught in schools. With the advent of the ideology of multiculturalism, our educators deemed that the teaching of other cultures was far more important, so our own history, etc. has not been taught adequately.

It is now a couple of years since i read the booklet handed out to prospective citizens and there was nothing in it that I did not know. In fact it was very basic. An immigrant has to be here for 4 years before being eligible for citizenship anyway, so basic english should not be a problem.

I expect all citizens to be able to communicate in our official language, at least on a basic level.