The Federal Opposition has used the annual conference of the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia (FECCA) to attack the Government's proposed citizenship laws. With the conference looking into the possible changes, the Opposition has termed them detrimental to Australia's multicultural society.
TURNBULL
"We are announcing changes to strengthen citizenship to make for a stronger Australia. Stronger citizenship, stronger citizens."
That was Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announcing a series of proposed changes to citizenship laws in April which would make becoming an Australian more difficult. Under the proposed changes, permanent residents would have to wait four years to qualify for citizenship, a big increase from the current one-year wait.
There would also be tougher testing to prove competency in English, with migrants required to record a Band 6 score in the International English Language Testing method. The annual conference of the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia (FECCA) in Darwin has been looking at how the laws would affect multiculturalism. The assistant minister for social services and multicultural affairs, Zed Seselja, says the Government supports diversity but considers an ability to speak English important.
SESELJA
"The Government's view is that multicultural Australia means that we celebrate the great diversity we have. We see that as a great strength, people celebrating where they come from, holding onto their language and culture, as a good thing. But we also see (language) as a uniting thing. We see integration as important. We see English language as important to unify us as a nation."
But the Opposition spokesman for multiculturalism and citizenship, Tony Burke, says the proposals need to be abandoned. He says the new barriers would exclude particular communities and particular language backgrounds. BURKE "When you look at how they've set these rules up, you'll need university-level English if you come from Asia but you won't need university-level English if you come from England. You'll need university-level English if you come from Africa but not if you come from North America. This is an extraordinary proposal, and we simply have to call it out for what it is, oppose it, defeat it, and get back to the principles that have made us a great multicultural nation." Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane stresses the Government's view that English skills are a way to unify Australians of diverse backgrounds. SOUTPHOMMASANE Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane says the changes will make the citizenship process more difficult for migrants.
SOUTPHOMMASANE
"The last thing you want to do is to signal that a principle of non-discrimination is being weakened or that we are making it harder for people to access citizenship. People should be free and able to become Australian citizens within a reasonable amount of time, and the greatest criterian for citizenship should be the commitment that people have in their hearts to this country."
Tony Burke argues the Government should not use citizenship as a way to, as he depicts it, gain political favour.
BURKE
"The voices of hatred have always been there. The voices of anger, the voices of prejudice, have always been around. What matters is whether or not we let them win. Now the Liberal government never proposed anything like this until Pauline Hansen was in the parliament. And once she was in the parliament, even though they didn't mention any of this at the election, all of a sudden, we get absurd proposals like this. I want to get back to a situation where celebrating multicultural Australia isn't a political football. I want it again to be something that both sides of politics agree on."
Greens leader Richard Di Natale says his party is prepared to work with Labor to denounce the changes.
DI NATALE
"If Labor are going to reject the government's citizenships changes then absolutely we will work with them. We'll work with the crossbench, the Labor party to reject these changes. It must be said, that on a number of other areas the Labor party has supported government legislation. We're disappointed that there seems to be a bipartisan consensus that really is aimed at excluding people from this country when we should be welcoming them. But if Labor is going to reject these citizenship changes than absolutely we will work with them."
