Taqi, Minister of Citizenship and multiculturalism, said immigrants had mastered basic English and integrated into the community before they could take advantage of the excellent opportunities offered by Australia,. (SBS.)
Tens of millions of immigrants will celebrate becoming Australian citizens on National Day this year. Other immigrants are not necessarily so lucky, fearing that they will not be able to do so in the future.
According to the SBS, this year's parliamentary session is about to begin, and the (Malcolm Turnbull) administration will push for a second time to introduce naturalization reform legislation to make it harder for immigrants to become Australian citizens.
At the end of last year, the naturalization reform bill was withdrawn from the Senate. However, the government has given up hope that the amendment will be passed in Congress in the first half of this year.
The new regulations are scheduled for July 1st.
"based on the feedback we have received, we have made some changes. Based on these changes, we expect the bill to be passed in Congress. " Taqi (Alan Tudge), minister of citizenship and multiculturalism, told SBS this week.
"the bill aims to ensure that new citizens have the opportunity to take advantage of the excellent opportunities offered by Australia. However, they can only seize these opportunities if they have a good command of basic English and are integrated into the community. "
It is reported, Tan Bao government in April this year for the first time announced naturalization reform plan. The reforms include the implementation of values tests, stricter English language tests and a four-year waiting period for permanent residents applying for naturalization.
Due to unanimous opposition from the Labour Party, the Green Party and the (Nick Xenophon) faction, the first version of the naturalization reform bill was not passed by the Senate by the deadline and was formally withdrawn from the Senate on Oct. 18.
Dutton (Peter Dutton) then proposed an amendment to reduce the requirement for naturalization in English and to delete the relevant retroactive clause. He said on Oct. 19 that the government was willing to accept immigrants who reached the Band 5 level of the international English test, such as IELTS, compared with six points (Band 6) proposed in the previous plan.
At present, the existing naturalization applications are still in accordance with the original rules.
Brooke (Tony Burke), Labour's shadow citizen and multicultural shadow minister, told SBS: "as long as the government puts forward the proposal again and does not want immigrants who are expected to be good Australians to become citizens, the Labour Party will oppose it."
"more than anything else, people are talking to me about naturalization. They said the legislative setback gave them hope. "
The team hopes to amend the bill to limit the number of applications for citizenship tests and to maintain the current level of English requirements.
Taqi has confirmed to reporters that the government is willing to lower its English requirements, from "competent" to "moderate," and that the changes will not affect applicants for citizenship before July 1. As to whether the number of citizenship exams would be limited, he hinted that there might be further room.
