In an interview with ABC TV Insiders program on Sunday, Labor Citizenship Minister Tony Burke criticised the government's citizenship legislation currently before parliament.
Mr Burke read an alleged extract from a sample of a proposed English test about Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th Century BC, about the Battle of Thermopylae.
"There is not a single person in Australia who would have to say you would have to do a comprehension test like that before you can pledge allegiance to this country," he told Insiders.
"That's exactly where Peter Dutton has taken us with a policy that was all about his idea of wedge politics - and had nothing to do with Australia."
In a press release on Wednesday, Dutton "made no apologies" about the proposed English test.
"The citizenship legislation requires those seeking Australian citizenship to be competent in English. Competent equates to Level 6 of the International English Language Testing System [IELTS]," he said.
There are two streams to IELTS – academic and general training.
"Contrary to Labor's false claims, the IELTS academic test is not required for migration or citizenship purposes. The general training test is accepted," he said.
"Labor's claims that the citizenship legislation currently before the Parliament will require applicants to have a "university" level of English language skills is nothing more than a smokescreen."
Level 6 of the general stream focuses on "basic survival skills in broad social and workplace contexts".
