Sorry, women-haters. Looks like you’re a few steps farther from gaining your citizenship to Australia.
While Australia’s previous citizenship test focused on Australian history and politics and gave applicants unlimited chances to pass, under its new test, applicants with a history of domestic violence are barred from citizenship, while qualified applicants have three chances to pass. Examples of these questions include:
- Under what circumstances is it appropriate to prohibit girls from education?
- While it is illegal to use violence in public, under what circumstances can you strike your spouse in the privacy of your own home?
- Does Australia’s principle of freedom of religion mean that it is permissible to force children to marry?
- In Australia’s multicultural society, under which circumstances is it permissible to cut female genitals?
Additionally, applicants must have lived in the country for four years, opposed to the current requirement of one year, and must speak fluent English—the exam will only be offered in that language.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, however, 28.5 percent of Australia’s 6.9 million residents are foreign-born, bringing into question the targeted intent of these anti-misogynist questions. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has denied speculations that these questions appear aimed at any group, particularly Muslim immigrants amid concerns of religious extremism, saying 99 percent of Australia’s Muslims are law-abiding citizens who find domestic violence “abhorrent.”
“What I want is, frankly, for people to abide by our laws, adopt our values, I want them to send their kids to school, if they’re of working age and have an ability to work, I want them working, not on welfare,” Dutton said on Australia’s Channel Seven program Sunrise, according to Australian website news.com.au. “I want people to become great Australians, which is the migrant story of our country.”
“They are pointed at people who might think that domestic violence is OK—well, it’s not,” Dutton continued. “If you have a different view, frankly we don’t you want you to become an Australian citizen.”
Additionally, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils President Keysar Trad told news.com.au that he doesn’t think the questions target Muslims, but said they weren’t beneficial for actual citizenship purposes and just “pander” to voters of Sen. Pauline Hanson, who has said disparaging things against Islam. In January, Hanson suggested that the citizenship test include additional checks, calling the old questions “stupid” and “childish.”
“I want to know that they’ve got money in the bank, I want to know where they’re going to live, have they got a roof over their head or are we going to have to provide that for them,” Hanson said on Channel Seven at the time. “I want to know if they’ve got their own health insurance, I want to know if they’ve got a police check … We have to check these people. We are fools, we are being taken for mugs in this country.”
H/T Yahoo7 News