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Australian Citizenship Test

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Printed Date: 09 September 2010 at 11:29pm

Topic: Australian Citizenship Test

Posted By: Arctic Firefox
Subject: Australian Citizenship Test
Date Posted: 18 May 2007 at 8:16pm

The Herald-Sun published a sample of 20 questions from the Australian Citizenship Test our Federal government is busy designing.

See how many you manage to get correct:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21752541-2,00.html

All done? Would you like to hear my criticisms now? Too bad, here they are anyway! Smile

* Citizenship tests like this are ridiculous. Immigrants should focus on learning English, the rest will come by a process of osmosis. How does knowing that Sir Edmund Barton was our first PM make you more Australian? In that case, I'm quite sure there are a lot of people who were born here who would have got that question wrong ... does this diminish their "Australian-ness"?

* Question 14 is complete rubbish. Equality between the sexes has still not been achieved in this country, and the Howard government is not trying very heard to achieve this either. The ideas of "mateship" and a "fair go" are completely subjective. John Howard would argue that WorkChoices gives people a fair go - others would argue the opposite. And since when are these exclusively Australian values?

* Question 15 is probably the worst multiple choice question I've ever seen. The correct answer is actually "All of the above", but that wasn't an option. Firstly, the suggestion is that only one of these applies to Australia is antagonistic to Muslims, Catholics and those without a religion, because it suggests that Australian "values" are not based on their beliefs. Well, actually, the Qu'ran has a lot in common with the Bible and the Tora. The Prophet Mohammed once claimed that Judaism, Christianity and Islam were a "holy trinity" of religions, because they all stemmed from the Old Testament. So many values from the Qu'ran also appear in the Jewish and Christian holy books. Secondly, Catholicism is a crucial part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and can't be separated from it. Last time I checked, Catholics were Christians. It's like saying that someone who was born in Victoria, Australia is either a Victorian or an Australian, but not both. 'Silly' doesn't even begin to describe it. And lastly, secular values have always been a very strong part of our society, represented most prominently in the separation of Church and State.

Australia's "values" may have been "consciously" based upon the Judeo-Christian tradition, but this will always include Catholicism, and the question doesn't word it this way.

Just when you thought this government couldn't become any more incompetent.

Replies:

Posted By: Lee-o
Date Posted: 19 May 2007 at 9:05am

I started doing the test then the questions became so vulgar that I couldn't continue. I doubt I would've passed anyway hehe.

Question 4/ Lots of sports are played in Australia, there's plenty of Aussies who couldn't care less about cricket but loves table tennis (including me, despite hardly ever playing it).

The answer to question five is c!

Question eight is completely wrong! The first Europeans who came to Australia were the dutch! That's why we were called "New Holland" for a century or two.

Question thirteen's rather pretentious, reminding the people just who is in charge.

Mateship was also one of the core values of Hitler's SS. Keep that in mind next time you hear Howard sprout his mateship rhetoric. Also, we're not the only nation who has friends.

Question seventeen is also ambiguous, the dutch came during none of those years.

Funding from making this test should've been channeled into providing English lessons for immigrants instead. Funding that has been consecutively cut over the years.

Posted By: Alli
Date Posted: 19 May 2007 at 11:36am

Ok, that's the most stupid thing i've ever seen. That's how the government wants to decide who should become citizens of this country? I was born here and i didn't know some of the answers to those questions, and how do any of them determine the applicants feelings about Australia, or what they could bring to our society? Do you really need to know which sport is most popular do be a good citizen? I really, really hope they don't actually start to implement this test!

Posted By: Arctic Firefox
Date Posted: 19 May 2007 at 12:06pm

Good points, though now I think about it, the answer to question 5 is actually "none of the above". We're actually a constitutional monarchy - a parliamentary democracy can refer to several types of government.

As for question 8, watch the wording. It says "settlers"; the Dutch sailors from the Batavia weren't planning to stay here, they just shipwrecked on the way to Indonesia. However, I agree with your general point that the fact that the Dutch were the first Europeans to land on Australia (though some accounts have the Portuguese landing on the northern coast several decades earlier). It's a fact often omitted from our history books. The Dutch sailors stayed in WA and married indigenous women, so while you could successfully argue they were our first settlers, the question is supposed to refer to our first deliberate settlers.

Shall we all combine our complaints in an e-mail and send it to Kevin Andrews? ;)

Posted By: domthews
Date Posted: 19 May 2007 at 12:54pm

Yep, I entirely, totally, 100% agree.

Most Australians would get at least one of those wrong(even i struggled.)

Just consider for a moment the reaction of Australians (in particular the shock jocks and News ltd) if, for example, a muslim country were to introduce a similar test. "extremism" would be the rallying call to those opposed to a question claiming that their political system was based on the koran (but as a seperate answer to Sunni muslim beliefs).

I'm not sure if im makng any sense, but do you get what i mean?

Also, you could argue that Australia was built on the back of catholicism (think of all those Irish convicts). It is ludicrous to suggest that Catholicism is seperate from christianity (perhaps because the catholic church doesn't condone Howard's fundamentalist ideologies)

Posted By: Sarah!
Date Posted: 19 May 2007 at 5:09pm

OMG! the answer the Q4 is soooooooooooo d!!!!! :) I speak as a representative of the sport that is table tennis. (It's actually one of the fastest growing sports in Oz, but obviously that wasn't concidered....)

What a complete waste of time.... as if you're going to determine wether someone enters the country or not based on some stupid 20 Questions MC test...

Even the name is stupid "Are you dinky di?" how often do you hear typical aussies say 'dinky di' now days?

I mean, you may as well just do a movie review on the movie 'crocodile dundee' and if it's good enough, we'll let ya in.

Posted By: kittiliciousnes
Date Posted: 19 May 2007 at 9:39pm

I agree totally with both the veiws stated above! I think i got about 5 or so of them right and they were mainly the ones like thats the cappital city and other things like that! Its a completely bias document which i completely disagree with!

Posted By: butterfly
Date Posted: 20 May 2007 at 3:24pm

hopefully the answer to question 13 changes fairly soon Tongue

i don't see how knowing more about australia than the average aussie is going to help you integrate better...

question two does not take into consideration the creationist (bible based) beliefs of many australians regarding the timeline of earth. it might not be an issue to many people but if they can't even make up stupid questions that the australian public aren't in agreeance on...

the most infuriating thing is that they don't practice what they preach. it is very well to indoctrinate newcomers that "a fair go" is an australian value, but when they hear about the refugee situation on the news and stuff surely they'll see the hypocracy...

Posted By: Cailin
Date Posted: 20 May 2007 at 6:08pm

i totally agree!

How are people expexted to know the answers to some of the questions that i, after living in australia all my life would have no idea about??

I managed to get 17 correct, but like mentioned above...whats with the questions 4, 14, 15?

And with question 16, yes ANZAC day is commemorating the Gallipoli landing, but it is also remembering all the soliders who fought in all the wars.

Posted By: greeno
Date Posted: 21 May 2007 at 2:48pm

Doesn't it say though that it is only the Canadian, British and US citizenship test?

Posted By: butterfly
Date Posted: 21 May 2007 at 5:04pm

yeah it does, but does that really matter? wouldn't it be kinda stupid if you wanted to get US citizenship and they said "you're not allowed until you know the country's flower emblem"

it's insane regardless.

Posted By: greeno
Date Posted: 21 May 2007 at 6:02pm

Yeah..... I wonder what score you would have to get to pass....

Posted By: butterfly
Date Posted: 22 May 2007 at 3:31pm

and how long did they spend looking up the answers? Tongue

Posted By: Cailin
Date Posted: 25 May 2007 at 8:15pm

Originally posted by butterfly

yeah it does, but does that really matter? wouldn't it be kinda stupid if you wanted to get US citizenship and they said "you're not allowed until you know the country's flower emblem"

it's insane regardless.

i totally agree butterfly! its insane!

the idea of a test to get into australia, and on questions that are pointless. they need to ditch the test, or get sutible questions.

Posted By: juddles
Date Posted: 25 May 2007 at 10:44pm

clearly it is an essential part of being an australian citizen to be able to identify the flower that unifies us with an unbreakable bond. really guys, aren't u being a bit unreasonable? give the libs a break. how else will we establish our sense of self if not thru flowers?

Posted By: butterfly
Date Posted: 26 May 2007 at 2:51pm

more like our sense of smell Tongue

Posted By: tails
Date Posted: 29 May 2007 at 2:47pm

yeah some of those questions are really pathetic... i knew alot of them because of doing history this year, but if i hadent i wouldnt know most of them. Do our new citizens really need to know these things though? they arent essential parts of australian culture, which is what they should know i about.

Posted By: unwritten01
Date Posted: 30 May 2007 at 11:16am

The idea of a citizenship test to me is very stupid. Immigratians move to australia for the purpose of a better life, soemthing new and differnet and most, after a few days of arriving here, need to find a job, need to find accomadation and sometimes it takes years...depending on the skills and background they have, to actually get their life back on track

this doesnt really leave them much time to sit down and learn australian history, and yes I do admit, I thought our national flower was the waratah =[

Its just not pratical

Posted By: AllHail Macbeth
Date Posted: 30 May 2007 at 12:56pm

Good grief!!! What is this country coming to?? I arrived in Australia from New Zealand 6 years ago and there is NO WAY I would have known half those things.

Until today, I was unaware that we had a "national flower" and now that I do, I still don't see how that is at all relevant to immigrants.

As for the sports, there are LOTS of different sports that are popular in Australia and, once again, relevance???

Question 5 actually didn't provide the correct answer at all. Our system of government is a constitutional monarchy, as any lawyer or politician ought to know. It is a monarchy where a parliamentary system runs the country. Not a parliamentary democracy!!

Coat of arms...relevance??? Who cares??

Question 8: There were plenty of Irish in the first fleet (along with Scottish, Welsh adn a few others no doubt) so the answer shouldn't really have been England.

If it hadn't been for studying Australian history in Yr 9 I would have had no idea who the first prime minister of Australia was, nor do I really care.

As for 14...yuk!! Sickening! Australia is well behind interms of men and women being equal so I don't really see how they can use that and what the hell do 'mateship' and 'a fair go' really mean?? Makes us all sound like crocodile dundee.

15: last I heard there was a separation between religion and state in Australia so, whatever our values might be based on, they shouldn't really be asking that kind of question, especially as it is no doubt put there to irritate Muslims.

18: how many states?? That's just ridiculous. How is anybody outside Australia going to realise there's a difference between state and territory. Until very recently, I always counted Northern territory and ACT.

And the river system?? I would have had absolutely no idea except that there has recently been all this talk of the Murray-Darling drying up so I guessed.

This test is utterly ridiculous!!! It is simply designed to keep people out of Australia.

Macbeth

Posted By: Matokeo*s2
Date Posted: 01 June 2007 at 11:05am

I saw on the news the other day that you only need 60% to pass but there are 3 questions that you must get right. This was something to do with values etc.

People would also be alowed to sit the test as many times as they needed to pass.

thoughts?

Posted By: unwritten01
Date Posted: 01 June 2007 at 12:20pm

Will it be like the drivers licence test where you have to pay everytime you sit for it?

I just dont see whats wrong with all the tests people need to do to come here and have an offical interview about australian values and beliefs that people need to have before they become citizens...

Posted By: juddles
Date Posted: 01 June 2007 at 10:16pm

Originally posted by butterfly

more like our sense of smell Tongue

aren't they synonymous?

no?

ah, my mistake. yes, foolish of me.

Posted By: Cina
Date Posted: 04 June 2007 at 7:40pm

i think the ppl who designed this test would have even had to look up the answers themselves they need to get a couple of aussies and see just how easy these quesytions are to answer...

they need to realise that ppl in this country who come for the sake of getting out of theres that is likely to be full of war or poverty are coming to get away to a better place... some may not have the choice on whether they can leave or not, they are forced to leave their countries for the sake of their lives so leave them alone, open your doors and take them in to a place they cometo for safety and to nprovide a better life for their children

Posted By: Miraisis
Date Posted: 04 June 2007 at 10:01pm

I only got 16... Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to live in Australia?

The test is an absolute joke, no one should be denied entry into Australia because they don't know what sport a lot of Australian's care about. I personally don't watch cricket, i don't even understand it.

It is completly ignoring the values which are outlined within the questions. This is not 'mateship' it's a selection process based on how smart you are or how much you know about Australian society... How are you meant to learn about our society if your not allowed into it?

Posted By: bellydancer
Date Posted: 04 June 2007 at 10:10pm

does it really matter whether you know who the afl champions were in 1974, or the date steve irwin was born? i mean, the government acts as though being a fair-dinkum, blonde-haired blue-eyes australian is like belonging to an exclusive club that only accepts those who can sit a test and know what australias main value is.

hell, i dont know what australias main value is and ive never been out of the country.

Posted By: bellydancer
Date Posted: 04 June 2007 at 10:24pm

i just found the test and now you will all sit through my criticisms.

question fifteen was just ridiculous. i didnt no that, i doubt if many people would, and it was obviously just put there to antagonise.

the question about our system of ruling- i answered dictatorship and then realised that it was supposed to be democratic election or whatever they came up with.

australian values- what the hell, thats ridiculous. the very fact that they have "a fair go" in there is absurd, because if they believed everyone deserves a fair go then THEY WOULDNT HAVE THE TEST!!!!!!!!!!!! oh wait, sorry, that only applied to proper, anglo-saxon-descended aussies doesnt it? men and women are not equal, john howard may say they are but that doesnt change the fact that women are still discriminated against- just last week we were picking teams for sport and the teacher was like 'go boy girl' and the boys all went 'nnnnoooooo!!!! girls arent good at sport!!!!!' and the week before the only all-girl team beat everyone else in the class in football, a fact that the beaten boys still whinge about.

Posted By: |Ben
Date Posted: 18 June 2007 at 8:22am

My friend without an account would like to say...

"John Howard and his citizenship test represent the worst values of the Australian culture: if your different, get out of the country, and only come back if you learn to be like us. But the stupidest thing is that in a country with so many different attitudes, belies, and values, a test is given to immigrants which implies that Australia is some sort of bastion monocultural thought and beleif. This is so false, judging by the many dissenting voices and beliefs within the Austraian community."

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 12 July 2007 at 3:17pm

Originally posted by Arctic Firefox

The Herald-Sun published a sample of 20 questions from the Australian Citizenship Test our Federal government is busy designing.

See how many you manage to get correct:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21752541-2,00.html

All done? Would you like to hear my criticisms now? Too bad, here they are anyway! Smile

I don't know if the conversation has moved on but I had to comment here

The test was disgusting but remember it was printed in a newspaper - not in the form of a law or any official document. The media has a NASTY way of telling its audience what it thinks will get it good ratings! It's completely self centered and couldn't give a damn about immigrants! So while this "sample" was terrible It's probably not cause for uproar!

I think we need to have cirtain immigration laws in place - we need to make sure people who live here are not just as marginalised if not more so than in their own country so they need to speak English and they need to know our currency, our political system, AND our justice system - otherwise they will never be useful members of our society and we can't offer them any more than their home country - I do however believe that the government should do more to help immigrants understand our country so that they can utilize all it's beautiful resources just like us!

Posted By: Lee-o
Date Posted: 13 July 2007 at 10:01pm

Good idea Jac, but first they need to be taught English (which the government is obliged to provide English lessons last I heard, but they are apparently inadequate), and taught our political, justice and monetary systems. Don't expect people to know something they haven't been taught yet.

Posted By: Arctic Firefox
Date Posted: 13 July 2007 at 10:15pm

Originally posted by ~Jac~

Well that makes no sense at all. How many people born in Australia know how our electoral and justice systems work? I would say, significantly less than 50%. So do we strip them of their citizenship?

Obviously the government has to help new migrants with English, but it seems ridiculous to force them to know more about how Australia works than most people born here do.

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 13 July 2007 at 10:33pm

Yeah absolutely

And i recon the government should provide high quality ESL courses and community courses free of charge if we believe in a 'fair go'

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 3:18pm

Originally posted by Arctic Firefox

Originally posted by ~Jac~

Don't be ridiculous

basic government is taught all the way through primary school in NSW at least - We do local in yr 4, state in yr5 and federal in yr 6 and most schools do an excursion to Canberra to let the kids see where we're governed from and how it works (I even got to sit in the senate and argue over a mock bill) - children aged 12 know that we have a 2 house parliament senate and the house of reps and that right now liberal are in power - they also know we live in a democracy thats governed "by the people for the people" tell me you know that? and by the way I wasn't even born here! how can citizens have their say if they don't even know how the country is run???

Posted By: jsuam
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 4:15pm

i disagree.

i have 3 younger brothers, aged 16, 14 and 11 and i would be surprised if my 16 year old brother knows much more then the difference between the labor and liberal parties, and how the voting system works.

some schools and some states may have that curiculum in place but not all schools do and i completely agree with Arctic Firefox in that a lot of aussies (even those that were born here) dont know about their own country whether its the political system or something else.

people come to australia for lots of different reasons. but often its because their government is corrupt and they are unable to earn a decent living a provide for their families, and that their lives are in danger.

let me ask; if you were working as an immigration officer or something and you came across a family who told you they had come from a country where their government was taking so much money in tax that they were unable to afford food and basic education. they told you they had come to australia because they knew it was a safe and fair country and they wanted the chance to give their children a better life...

but when you sat down and spoke to them you realised that they barely knew the language, didnt know much about the currency and had no idea who the liberal and labor parties were...would you kick them out and say "im sorry about your situation but your not allowed in unless you know about all those aspects of our country"???

in my opinion, thats completely unreasonable.

if someone is scared for their life and the lives of their familie and therefoire they flee their home, leaving everything behind, in search of a better life, then they should at least be given a chance.

enroll them in compulsory classes to learn the language, the political system, the currency...whatever. if they fail to go to the classes or after 6 months they still know nothing and have no interest, well then thats different but even then i dont think they should be denied entry into the country.

i still dont know everything about our political system. i know a lot more than other people do but how many of you can HONESTLY say that you know pretty much all there is to know about how this country is run??

what difference does it make?

i actually think that someone who wasnt born here (like yourself jac) would have more interest in learning about the country than someone who was born here.

for you, it was a whole new way of life and whole new system that you didnt know about and that maybe you really wanted to learn about because it was different...

but for a lot of people (who were born in aus) its just the norm and nothing more. they know the basics and that gets them through and thats all they need to know...

jac if you dont mind me asking, where did you move from and how old were you when you came here?

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 4:22pm

people dont need to know everything about politics - but they do need to know some basics - if they knew no english then they should be given free classes - if they dont go then thats their choice and there should be consiquences but for their sake they need to be taught how to survive in this country and part of that is having a basic understanding of how the country is run, fluent english and an understanding of our currency - I never said deny entry i said educate immigrants

Posted By: jsuam
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 4:26pm

well then maybe i misunderstood you.

and please dont feel like i was attacking you coz i wasnt. i was just replying to your opinion with my own.

i agree that people who live in this country - and any country - need to have a basic understanding of the language and the political system etc, but i think there are ways to go about it and at the moment i dont think the government is going a very good job at all.

jac you said you werent born here - correct?

where did you used to live and how old were you when you came here? im just curious...

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 4:40pm

That's fine - everyone's entitled to their opinion - it's ok it's hard to feel attacked in a chat room! LOL

was born in England so english is my first language and culturally we're very similar - But God bless the SUN!!!

Came here when I was a kid but still had to earn citizenship

Posted By: jsuam
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 9:19pm

dont take this the wrong way, but coming from a country like england or america or even italy or france or something is very different to coming from a country like iraq or pakistan...

the government seems to have issues with people who arent from the more 'prestigious' (wrong word but couldnt think of the right one) countries and thats what i dont like...not everyone is given a fair go.

i had the same thing...i lived in france for a year in 2001 and we had to go through the whole citizenship process and all that. but i can almost guarantee, without the evidence of experience, that i - coming from australia - had a much easier time gaining that status than someone who may go to france having come from iraq or somewhere like that...

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 14 July 2007 at 10:01pm

Sure - and i think that that kind of discrimination is wrong - but there's nothing wrong with providing mandatory education in english and the basic framework of how our country works - In fact thats the right thing to do all round

insentive for people to actually attend the classes - Citizenship when they pass! that doesn't mean they need to know everything about the country but at least they know the language, the value of a dollar and how to have their say in an election

- see how that helps them and not us??

Posted By: jsuam
Date Posted: 15 July 2007 at 10:45am

yeah ok i get what you mean and i agree.

i think there was a misunderstanding back there but thats ok :)

discriminating over people who know less about australia simply because of where they have come from is completely and utterly wrong.

its not their fault.

and i agree that upon entering the country they need to know enough to get them through life in aus. enrolling to vote and voting itself (or at least getting your name marked off at the voting booth) is mandatory here so they would need to know enough to get them through that.

if they get a job they need to know the value of the dollar and also so that they can buy food and education etc.

but i think the government is just going to make it harder and harder, therefore letting less and less people into the country.

and when you think about it, its not like we're pushed for space!!

Posted By: ~Jac~
Date Posted: 15 July 2007 at 12:54pm

Yeah - i think the government is afraid of having to support people who can't get on in Australia because they can't speak english or deal with money

Posted By: butterfly
Date Posted: 15 July 2007 at 1:43pm

this was the test for people from america and england, it doesn't say that it would be used on people from other countries, so safe to say most refugees wouldn't be faced with these questions. my biggest gripe about these questions is that the questions themselves are stupid, and that the options for answers are not really accurate in some cases, and are hopelessly idealistic.

Posted By: jsuam
Date Posted: 15 July 2007 at 1:46pm

and i think you just described many of the governments decisions in a nutshell...

Posted By: criket01
Date Posted: 21 July 2007 at 2:10pm

Originally posted by unwritten01

this doesnt really leave them much time to sit down and learn australian history, and yes I do admit, I thought our national flower was the waratah =[

Its just not pratical

nah, the waratah is NSW flower....

i totally agree that the idea of a citezenship test is completely idiotic! i mean, they should be sitting a basic English test... when have you encountered anyone on the street demanding to know what our national flower is? At least if our immigrants know English, they can make a life here more easily! i mean their resume if the only the thing did was that icitizenship test would look like this..

Skills: knows Australia's national flower. Do you want to play criket sometime?

its a stupid test

Posted By: Smithers
Date Posted: 22 July 2007 at 6:19am

ok,

i dont totally agree with the test, but if i were wanting to be a citizen of a country i would like to know a bit about the country i was going to become the citizen of. but the history stuff is kinda useless.

But i think if they are going to have a test it should be an english speaking test, because in my opinion if you are going to live in a country you should obviously know the language, im not saying that people becoming citizens must drop their language and speak english but they should AT LEAST know the basics so they can " fit in" better with society.

And really those questions werent THAT hard, im not an aussie but i still got most right..........

Posted By: greeno
Date Posted: 23 July 2007 at 12:25am

It's not a matter of their difficulty, it's a matter of their relevance and the attitude toward immigration that they promote.

Posted By: Cailin
Date Posted: 27 July 2007 at 6:26pm

Originally posted by Smithers

.... but the history stuff is kinda useless....

i wouldnt say it was useless Smithers. its usefull to understand whats happened in the past to determine what could happen in the future and why.

Posted By: butterfly
Date Posted: 27 July 2007 at 10:55pm

...but there is no reason for it to be a pre-requisite for entering out country...

Posted By: Cailin
Date Posted: 29 July 2007 at 2:55pm

true butterfly... good point.

but surely its a good idea to have some knowledge about it. allthough i agree it shouldnt be used in dertermining who can enter the country.

Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 30 October 2007 at 2:22pm

hey well you sound like an idiot soz kid but really.
im 15 and i knew the answers to that idiotic test.

yes the test sucks.

so does john and kevin but did the whole world need to listen to your 200 word rant about how you, a fully grown person out of school, cant answer a couple of simple questions.

dear god. i hope you didnt go to university or i will have lost all my faith in the older generation. (which just happens to be the generation that drives the taxis i sit in and votes :p)

soorrryy

love bec

Posted By: domthews
Date Posted: 31 October 2007 at 9:03am

SNAP!!! lol.
It's about time people started insulting each other on the blender!

Posted By: greeno
Date Posted: 31 October 2007 at 1:24pm

true....I'm having a lot of difficulty figuring out just who exactly that was directed at though. that was just really really odd.

Posted By: kauliflower
Date Posted: 31 October 2007 at 2:56pm

Did she count the words manually or enter it into a word processor? seems a lot of effort just to cut someone down.

it should probably also be noted that not all information just accumulates in your brain indefinitely. it also gets thrown out so the fact that you knew something at age 15 doesn't necessarily mean that it should be so incredibly obvious to adults.

sorry, had to point that out. obnoxious children who laugh at you because you've forgotten how to do long division, just because you've learnt how to use a calculator, are annoying.

Posted By: Arctic Firefox
Date Posted: 31 October 2007 at 3:22pm

Perhaps allowing random Guests to post here wasn't such a good idea after all.

Bec could have been referring to several people on this thread with "200 word" comments, but no one here said they couldn't answer the questions. Most confusing, but then I suspect Bec is a little confused as well.

Posted By: Cailin
Date Posted: 31 October 2007 at 5:20pm

Hey guys,

Firstly... did i just hear (or read

) someone say that it is time we started insulting each other on the blender??

I have a problem with this statement. i dont no about you, but i am here to share ideas and learn about important world issues in a way that i can feel comfortable in sharing. dont get me wrong, i have nothing against people questioning others views or telling them they're wrong, - but insulting? surely thats not right...

Secondly, i am not sure who Bec is, but i guess we have to take the good and the bad of everything. Not all guests are going to be bad. most people come here for the right reasons! lets focuss on the good ones who have something decent to say.

well thats enough from me,

Cailin

Posted By: Silver
Date Posted: 31 October 2007 at 10:29pm

Pish, people are too afraid of insults on this forum! Toughen up guys!

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of ELDERBERRIES!! (... or was it the other way round? Hmm...)

Ok, now I've let that out.... haha...

I agree that, apart from a basic understanding of English, people should have a *basic* understanding of our legal principles. For example, there was a case study in a law course that I did at uni where a couple of young men who came from some isolated village in a 3rd world country (can't remember which), were on trial for raping a girl. Their defense? "It's not illegal in our country, and we didn't know any better."

O_o Enough said.

Actually, that 'test' was so ridiculous that it was almost funny! Just goes to show that all the really intelligent people in this country are much too smart to go into politics. ;)

Posted By: greeno
Date Posted: 20 December 2007 at 10:29am

no no no...they're much too smart to go into the Liberal party

Posted By: greeno
Date Posted: 20 December 2007 at 10:31am

and that was the right way around :P

Posted By: smartbeaver
Date Posted: 22 March 2008 at 10:06pm

i fail to believe why people who wants to call themselves an australian would not know these simple facts and knowledge about australia's history. if they're willing to wait 2 years to move from permanent resident to australian citizen it's not asking that much of them to know these simple facts.

all the answers to the questions are on one tiny booklet avaliable for them to study. its takes a little initative to be an australian citizen and if they're unwilling to take a couple of hours of their time to study what it takes to be an australian then maybe they shouldn't be considered an australia.

Posted By: tails
Date Posted: 29 March 2008 at 3:35pm

Smartbeaver,

What relevance to today's society doe sour national flower have though? If the test asked some serious questions, and the answers were about things that may actually help someone become more familiar with Australia then I'm sure everyone would be alot more accepting of it.

Posted By: rock_chik631
Date Posted: 09 April 2008 at 1:27pm

*loves monty python*

*doesnt endorse monty python sketches as way of life*

*forgets what she actually had to say*

oh yeah, about teaching immigrants adequate english...

the government provides inadequate english language assistance because nobody seems willing to do it.. i have volunteered to help migrants in my local area with language skills, and have found thru the process you connect on a very real level with these new memebers of your community, as well as imparting australian values without realising it!! (leaving debate as to what australian values are for the more fired up among you...)

so please please please, if you have a spare hour each week, look into volunteering to teach english in your own area! (its difficult to link, as there is not an overriding government body that looks after this... I did mine thru Illawarra Multicultural Services. Just browse local community groups.)

thanks guys =)

and i got all answers correct in the test, purely from having lived in australia for 19yrs and knowing how our government thinks we think.

Posted By: 18015
Date Posted: 23 June 2008 at 10:13pm

Dear Bec,

I am so sorry to disappoint you, but I must advise you that it is most probable that over three-fifths of Australian students who attend university would not be able to answer such 'simple' questions, let alone adults.

I certainly look forward to riding a taxi in the future, driven by your 'unidiotic' generation.

With much admiration of the 15-year-olds in Australia,

William

Posted By: bellydancer
Date Posted: 07 July 2008 at 5:44pm

i've said it before and i will continue to say it : a citzizenship test is stupid.

an english test, maybe. but a test to get into the country.... foolish, my friends.

and bec: just, go away.

Posted By: allykat92
Date Posted: 10 July 2008 at 12:36pm

I'm not an Australian citizen yet, I movd here from America 4 yars ago. A citizenship test IS STUPID. What does it matter whether or not immigrants know a popular sport in Australia? Who cares if they know what values are Australian (equality between the sexes is still not quite achieved yet). Some of my friends took it for fun over here and they would've failed! It's not right!

Posted By: allykat92
Date Posted: 10 July 2008 at 12:42pm

Smartbeaver, a test doesn't show how much of a citizen you are. What shows it is how supportive you are of your country. Just because you're willing to study a book to answer stupid questions doesn't mean they're ready to become a citizen of this country. Personally, I'm dreading that test because it's stupid. Yes, immigrants should know some history, like I've learnt and my mom. But they shouldnt have to know it to become a citizen.

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