Rebel Mp Loses Citizenship Debate
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday August 9, 2007
THE Liberal MP Petro Georgiou recalled the language difficulties of his own migrant father in an impassioned rejection of the Government's tougher citizenship test.
Constandino Georgiou held down two jobs, raised and educated a family, but like hundreds of thousands of postwar immigrants, never spoke the English now required under the citizenship test, Mr Georgiou told Parliament yesterday. Legislation for the new test passed the House of Representatives yesterday with tacit support from Labor, which has refused to be drawn into a debate which could wedge the party.Labor had called for improvements to migrant English programs and other settlement services, but did not call for a vote on the legislation.Mr Georgiou said he would not support the legislation, saying the test would prevent "many meritorious aspiring citizens" from acquiring citizenship.Despite their limited English, people like his father were committed to Australia. "They have enriched every facet of our nation's life," he said. "They worked hard. They obeyed the law."Mr Georgiou dismissed the Government's argument that a more rigorous test was needed because of the intake in recent years of large numbers of non-European migrants from cultures far removed from Australia's.He said a fundamental change in the composition of migrants occurred 30 years ago with the demise of the White Australia Policy. Asian immigrants exceeded the European intake every year since 1984. "Australia met that challenge and there have been no major changes to our migrant intake since then." The Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, said the test would "provide prospective citizens the opportunity to demonstrate in an objective way they have a knowledge of Australia, including the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, and a basic knowledge of English".
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald