Yuyutsu,

You are wrong about me. I have no tolerance of 'diversity' at all. The strongest society is an homogeneous one that knows what it believes in and is prepared to fight for those beliefs against all comers. The fools who decided to change the face of the West by bringing in inappropriate immigrants, despite all the advice against it, thought that diverse cultures were going to settle in and act like us. Well, they have not done so, and in many cases, they are downright hostile to us and what we believe. They have been encouraged not to fit in via multiculturalism - aka tribalism - and have formed their own ghettos, where they continue with everything alien that they brought with them. I would not trust any of the to help defend the country. As for you, Yuyutsu, I don't have a clue where you came from, but you certainly have some very peculiar ideas on life and society.

//Before becoming an Australian people are
asked to subscribe to certain values. If they have strong
objections to those values, they shouldn't come to Australia.//

No, not necessarily. The serial killers Ivan Milat and John Bunting clearly had strong objections to fundamental Australian values like 'not being a serial killer'. That's despite both having held Australian citizenship their entire lives.

Of course, those are rather extreme examples, but one doesn't have to look far to see Australian citizens that reject Aussie values in a less dramatic fashion. 'The fair go', our commitment to egalitarianism, is often held up as a core Australian value - but I don't see much support for the idea from the likes of Cory Bernardi-Gras. And what about our Pauline and her little 'Hanson Family', promoting their brand of 'Helter Skelter'? These people sit in our Parliament for heaven's sake.

It's not actually possible to police people's 'values'. Even if it was, I'm not convinced it would be desirable. See '1984'. I think we're probably better off with the imperfect system we have where people get punished for breaking the law, and not having the wrong 'values' (thoughtcrime).

//If someone cannot honestly make
the citizenship pledge, they cannot honestly take our
citizenship.//

And how are we supposed to tell if they're making the pledge honestly or not? Polygraph? Pinky swear? Trial by ordeal?

//The strongest society is an homogeneous one that knows what it believes in and is prepared to fight for those beliefs against all comers.//

Just started watching the new Star Trek show, 'Star Trek: Discovery'. You sound exactly like T'Kuvma, the Klingon leader.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XTce38ef98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Nokw5i8aY

See what I mean? The similarity is uncanny as it is disturbing.

You want us to be worried because Sikhs are wearing turbans, when we have bloody Klingons in our midst? Bugger that for a joke, it's you and your fellow Klingons that are the scary people.

Toni et al,

Anyone can lie whether it is a pledge to the countries values or not to introduce a carbon tax. The point of a daily or monthly pledge at schools and of civics training is to inculcate an understanding of community values and expectations. There is no intention of policing values in spite of what left whingers say, there should at least be some understanding in the pledgee of what is required and the consequences of non-compliance.

While many immigrants share most of our values, many come from backgrounds that clearly don't.

Thank You Shadow Minister.

Laws are rules that bind all people living in a
community. They protect our general safety and
ensure our rights as citizens against abuses by
other people, by organisations and by the
government itself.

In a free society each and every person lives under
a rule of law as opposed to a whim-ridden rule of men.
Everyone is held accountable to the same laws and these
laws protect our fundamental rights.

//The point of a daily or monthly pledge at schools and of civics training is to inculcate an understanding of community values and expectations.//

In my day we managed that without a pledge. Still, I suppose if the Muricans have got one then we'd better get one too. After all, their society is so superior to ours, everybody obeys the law all the time and the streets are paved with gold in Murica.

One can only wonder why their incarceration rate is about four times higher than ours.