MHR Andrew Robb has, rightly, drawn flack for his suggestion on how Australia ought to approach would-be immigrants and applications for citizenship.
As Crikey reports [part only available online - otherwise subscription only]
"Chris Graham, editor of the National Indigenous Times, writes:
It seems some countries (and political parties) evolve slower than others – Andrew Robb's call for immigrants to be made to sit an English literacy test, along with a test on Australian customs and values is actually nothing new. On 23 December 1901, Australia passed its first ever major Act of Parliament, the Immigration Restriction Act aka the White Australia policy.
The idea behind the legislation was to keep the coloured folk out. Prime Minister Edmund Barton explained it best when he told parliament: "The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and Chinaman. There is a deep-set difference, and we see no prospect and no promise of its ever being effaced. Nothing in this world can put these two races upon an equality. Nothing we can do by cultivation, by refinement, or by anything else will make some races equal to others."
One of the requirements of Barton's new legislation was that immigrants had to undergo and pass a 50-word dictation test. If they failed, they weren't allowed in. And if they were already here and failed, they were jailed.
Is it any wonder Australians forget the name of our first Prime Minister? Let's just hope Andrew Robb fares a little better."
As Crikey reports [part only available online - otherwise subscription only]
"Chris Graham, editor of the National Indigenous Times, writes:
It seems some countries (and political parties) evolve slower than others – Andrew Robb's call for immigrants to be made to sit an English literacy test, along with a test on Australian customs and values is actually nothing new. On 23 December 1901, Australia passed its first ever major Act of Parliament, the Immigration Restriction Act aka the White Australia policy.
The idea behind the legislation was to keep the coloured folk out. Prime Minister Edmund Barton explained it best when he told parliament: "The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and Chinaman. There is a deep-set difference, and we see no prospect and no promise of its ever being effaced. Nothing in this world can put these two races upon an equality. Nothing we can do by cultivation, by refinement, or by anything else will make some races equal to others."
One of the requirements of Barton's new legislation was that immigrants had to undergo and pass a 50-word dictation test. If they failed, they weren't allowed in. And if they were already here and failed, they were jailed.
Is it any wonder Australians forget the name of our first Prime Minister? Let's just hope Andrew Robb fares a little better."
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