Australia to have English tests for new citizens
Reuters, Canberra
Australia will demand new citizens pass an English language test and sign up to undefined Australian values, Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday, but denied any racist overtones in the coming policy. Howard said the conservative government was also considering lifting to four years from three the wait for new immigrants to become an Australian and imposing a "fairly firm" test on knowledge of Australian history. "It won't become more difficult if you're fair dinkum, and most people who come to this country are fair dinkum about becoming part of the community," Howard told Australian radio, falling back on a local slang term for genuine. Australia is a nation of immigrants, with nearly one in four of the country's 20 million people born overseas. Almost six million people have settled since 1945 and Australia plans to accept about 144,000 new immigrants in 2006-07.
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