Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Tingyou is the answer to that one. And there is some interesting information there about the Italian Australians on Captain Cook’s ship the Endeavour. This article was in a Greek newspaper but it was done in consultation with editors of Greek, Chinese, Italian, Maltese and Indian newspapers.

Following the publication of the draft document, they made some criticism about the draft booklet. They said, ‘The sample citizenship test questions released by the government this week are retrospective and selective, written largely by John Howard to perpetuate and to sustain a golden era of white Anglo-Saxon pre-eminence in Australia.’ They went on to say that, with one in four Australians born overseas and an even higher ratio from non-English-speaking backgrounds born here, they are critical of the government asking new aspiring migrants to answer questions about the narrow band of life experience of white Anglo-Saxon immigrants when so many in the past have come from Europe, Asia and Africa.

The amendments being put forward are about getting a sense within the community of what an appropriate level is for setting these kinds of questions. As I said, I am not able to say whether they are too hard or too easy, because I have not seen the multiple-choice questions. There is certainly an incredible amount of detail in the draft booklet. Perhaps the minister knows the answer to this, but I did not know how many kilometres of water pipe were laid from Perth to the goldfields. That is in the booklet, but is that level of detail going to be asked about? We do not know because we do not know what the questions are. And we do not know whether, in a multiple-choice question, you would be able to guess between it being one metre versus several thousands of metres. You cannot tell unless you have the multiple-choice answers.

I want to ask the minister about the process for the booklet. It is a draft booklet, and I noticed on the minister’s website that there is the opportunity for giving input. I would appreciate it if the minister could let us know what the process and the time frame are in relation to the finalising of the booklet. During the Senate inquiry, the department indicated to the Senate committee that there was an intended start date of—I think, off the top of my head—17 September for the government to start introducing the test if the legislation passed through the parliament. Could the minister outline if that is still the intended start date, how the process for input into the draft booklet is intended to occur and whether that shifts back the time frame in which the government would like to see the citizenship test start if it is passed through the parliament?