New citizenship requirements to test locals

BY SORAYA PEREZ MOHAMMED
Last Saturday, Australian Permanent Residents met at Town Hall to protest against the government’s Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment Bill, introduced to parliament on 15 June.
The organizer of the event, Penny Howard, explained the protest calls on the government and parliamentarians to stop the Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment Bill, to lift the freeze on current citizenship applications, to stop the attacks on migrants and and stop misrepresenting existing requirements for citizenship.
“Thousands of people live, work and raise families here on a temporary visa. Right now, three of those years count, but many more people spend many more than three years becoming a permanent resident. The significance of Peter Dutton’s proposal is that it chucks those years, that time, that effort, that enormous amount of money in the bin. It doesn’t count. Tells us that we don’t count,” she said.
Part of the stress of living on a visa is the knowledge that the government can make announcements and with the stroke of a pen change your visa condition at any time, and completely uproot your life, plans, and whatever you’ve managed to do to establish yourself in a country- and that’s exactly what has happened in this case.
“For us, April 20th was one of those nightmare days when people who’d lived and worked in Australia for many years watched the news in disbelief, frantically checked websites and cried, some of them, in the knowledge that their carefully laid plan to finally move out of visa limbo and anxiety, and live in some security, were being chucked out of the window merely to score political points,” Ms Howard said.

Ms Howard also explained the Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment Bill requires permanent residents to demonstrate 4 years of continuous residence in Australia to become citizens, pass a university-level English language test every two years and be at least sixteen years old or over – all much tougher requirements than they ever were before.
“Under the current laws, you need to live in Australia for four years and be a permanent resident for at least one year to apply for citizenship. As it’s been mentioned, that’s being significantly misrepresented,” she added.
On the other hand, the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW Peter Doukas said in the past, Immigration Ministers of Australia waited for migrant ships to arrive and shook the hands of migrants as they got off the boats in Circular Quay, welcoming new Australians and welcoming their contribution to the country.
He alleged that after so many years of history and being recognized worldwide as a multicultural country, this new law seeks to nullify that past that prides the Australian people.
“This is the most damaging law that will affect Australia’s stance internally and externally. One in four people in this state are born overseas and the one in four have at least one parent born overseas. What does this say to them? What does it say to Aboriginal people who’ve tolerated waves and waves of migration here. What does it say to our standing in the United Nations? How are we perceived as a country from here on?” he said.
“This is madness. This is something that is a mechanism of the internal workings of the governing party and we have to stop it. This law is not just a law about migration. It’s a question about what kind of country we want to live in, so everyone, every nation, every group from any organization should be standing up against this law because it will do permanent damage to how we see ourselves and how the rest of the world sees us”, he added.
In addition, David Shoebridge, Greens member of the New South Wales Legislative Council explained that when Australian people look at their fellow citizens, they don’t see people who threaten them but people who are friends, family members, siblings, partners, in-laws, workmates.
“We see immigrants as our equals. We’re in it together, it’s our community, and we have a big version of Australia as a generous warm-hearted country. That’s why as a Greens politician, I fundamentally reject the small, the narrow, the scared vision of Australia that the likes of Peter Dutton have. We reject his vision of Australia and we reject his Citizenship Bill, absolutely,” he said.
The discriminatory provisions of the Citizenship Bill will prevent some residents of Australia from becoming citizens, many of them still on a 457 visa after living in Australia for more than 10 years.
“When you walk around a city like Sydney, and you realise what an amazing benefit we’ve got from this multicultural society that we have in Australia, the contributions we have in our arts, in our culture, the contributions we have in our economy, the contributions we just had in making Australia this amazing melting pot, this extraordinary place. Where we live in freedom and respect and tolerance and love for each other. And to think that it’s being challenged by our own immigration minister, who wants to shut the door, close the opportunity for permanent residents to become a fully pledged part of Australia through citizenship. It is utterly shameful,” he added.
He concluded by saying that Australian people will always welcome immigrants because they are a fundamental part of the community.
Also present at the event were Rita Mallia, the President of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition; and Zachary Joseph Wone, Secretary of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee of the Maritime Union of Australia Sydney branch.