All those wishing to become Australian citizens will need to take a test to show their knowledge of Australian history, institutions, and general values including something called ‘mateship’.

The Australian government is not against multicultural elements in the society with all the benefits it can provide, but the message is that newcomers do need to integrate for the cohesion of the nation. Good citizenship requires the citizen to hold in their grasp a basic understanding of Australian national values and agreement with them. From the start of the use of this test the newcomers will have to show that they have an understanding of the English language.

The booklet containing the information immigrants will need before they can pass is handed to each one. By reading this publication they will be able to learn about Australian history, its political institutions, economic foundation, and its indigenous background as well as basic cultural values. Australian citizenship requires commitment to the nation. This is a nation at ease with itself and the world, the pamphlet says.

You may be wondering what mateship is. The book given to all applicants says it is voluntary help giving and in return receiving it from others, especially in difficult times.

Who can be a mate? The booklet tells us this was well. A mate can be a spouse, partner, brother, sister, daughter, son or a friend, and even a stranger, it says. The citizen or mateship test will comprise 20 questions from a bank of 200.

12 correct answers will be the minimum for a pass.

10 essentially national values have been identified which are all in the study material given. These values obviously include mateship, and another is something called giving people a ‘fair go’. Tolerance of others, compassion, gender equality and freedom of speech are also listed within the ten.

It is suspected that once trained the successful migrant will be quite smugly able to trounce his inherited passport holding Australian neighbours by knowing answers his neighbor does not know. One such would be the exact date of the various colonies federated into a commonwealth (1901).

All the information about the new citizenship application is contained in the forty pages of the hand-out. The aim, stated by the government, is to create a balance between ethnic diversity and social cohesion. Commitment to Australia, to the nation’s laws, to their values and to the new community they will be a part of, is emphasized through the whole application procedure.

To place the high value on the English language it does, has been criticized as possibly unecessary.

Placing so much importance on the English language is, the government says, to the benefit of the applicants as an additional spur to their language learning. Having learnt basic English skills they will be so much better equipped to achieve their dreams.

One in four or thereabouts of Australia’s current population were born overseas. This illustrates the fact that getting the right migration is very important for Australia. The test must surely be a positive benefit for all. Better understanding of Australia before naturalization should result in a better balance between diversity and cohesion for the nation, plus a faster acclimatization for the immigrant.

Want to know more? Test yourself at the questions used in the citizen test page.

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