LETTERS AND ARTICLES

TEACH INSTEAD OF TEST by Peter Van Vliet

Let's offer refugees classes about their new home rather than exams.

THE effect of the former Howard government's higher-level citizenship test has been absolutely as predicted: educated skilled migrants, who today make up the great bulk of our immigration program, are passing the test easily. But some refugee groups from non-English-speaking backgrounds, such as those from Sudan, are experiencing failure rates of around 25%.

The decision by Immigration Minister Chris Evans to review the test, is therefore to be welcomed.

The test was always going to be difficult for people with lesser English language skills, who these days are mostly refugees from Africa and Asia. The previous test simply required people to demonstrate basic spoken English whereas the new computerised test requires higher-level English reading, comprehension and computer skills.

For recently arrived refugees who may have spent a lifetime in a refugee camp and may still be illiterate in their own language let alone in English, these skills may not be immediately achievable.

Now, many people are simply not sitting the test because they are afraid they will fail, a situation reflected in the substantial reduction in the number of test applicants.

The minister has also informed us that some refugees are not sitting the test because they are afraid of being deported. This fear is not quite as absurd as it sounds because one of the important rights of citizenship is the right not to be deported. Fail the test and you've basically confirmed you don't have the important rights and responsibilities that most of us take for granted.

The Rudd Government has recently announced social inclusion as its key social policy issue. This has created genuine excitement in the community sector as we grapple with the types of strategies, targets and measures we can develop to overcome social disadvantage and ensure equal opportunity for all.

But surely one key measure is that you can't be socially included if you don't have citizenship. You can't be socially included if you can't help decide who represents you in Parliament, if you can't work in our public service, serve in our armed forces, get access to some of the benefits only available to Australian citizens or perform the mutual responsibilities that we expect from our fellow citizens.

The recent debates around citizenship as channelled through the citizenship test arose from the growing, and sometimes legitimate, concerns about the need for greater social cohesion in Australia and the desire to ensure that all Australians understood the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

These are laudable goals. However, the new higher-level citizenship test has hindered rather than helped us attain them. The new test has excluded people who would otherwise make fine Australian citizens on the basis that they haven't quite learned English yet (think of the many Greek and Italian-Australians who helped build this country who would never have become citizens under this test).

The test has made outsiders of people who should be insiders. It has also downgraded the hugely important place of citizenship to sometimes trivial questions about our recent history.

There is a way out of the citizenship conundrum that the newly appointed committee should consider — that is through a teaching rather than a testing policy for applicants from refugee or family reunion backgrounds who have poor English language skills.

The much smaller refugee and humanitarian component of our immigration program was always going to have problems with a higher-level computerised test. Rather than test them and create exclusionary barriers that have disastrous consequence for them as individuals and, more broadly, for Australia's reputation, let's create a teach rather than test exemption for this special-needs category.

Applicants could take classes on the important role of citizenship, on Australia and its people (including an introduction to basic English skills) and when these are successfully completed, they could be conferred with Australian citizenship, without a test being necessary.

In this way Australia would no longer be in breach of its humanitarian obligations to provide our refugees with citizenship (which is actually a core human right under article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). It would also give our refugees the chance of new hope and a new start rather than the continued uncertainty and hopelessness of being stateless.

Our larger category of skilled migrants would continue to take the current test and no one would be the worse off.

Citizenship is not just about rights and responsibilities, it's an affirmation of belonging. It allows you to travel unhindered with a valid passport, to visit dying loved ones overseas or to attend cultural or religious pilgrimages and return home safely. It's about being able to call Australia your home rather than your residence.

Akoch Manheim of the Sudanese Lost Boys Association said it is hard to "truly express how it feels for a stateless person to receive the privilege of Australian citizenship in a country like Australia. An approximation might be the experience of a person who has battled a serious illness, experiencing the borderline of death, only to recover and resume full health. Citizenship is a gift from God of priceless value." It is only when you talk to people who have been non-citizens that you begin to understand its immense significance.

Reflecting on Australia's national anthem recently, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said: "You've got verses like: For those who come across the seas, we've boundless plains to share. That should be the resolve of any Australian government, unlike the one that we replaced, which seemed to pull up the shutters when it came to our proper international obligations, particularly to refugees who found themselves in real strife."

These were words that gave heart to many people working with migrants and refugees who had previously been used to very mixed messages about the intrinsic value of the migrants and refugees who help make up this country.

Removing the discriminatory barriers from the new citizenship test would be a great place to start if we want to achieve a truly inclusive Australia.

Peter van Vliet is the executive officer of the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/04/29/1209234860115.html

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD SUN – 7 February 2008

Focussing on the views of residents of one suburb (Migrant Mix Not Right, 5/2/08) may not reflect the wider Victorian community which generally supports cultural diversity. Some individual areas may also attract people who prefer to live among people from more established backgrounds. Recent VicHealth research with a broader representative sample found that 89% of Victorians think cultural diversity is a good thing. In that research only a minority of Victorians oppose cultural diversity. More can always be done to increase English language teaching and employment and training opportunities for new migrants but Victoria has a proud history of settling people from different backgrounds successfully and harmoniously. Our cultural diversity enriches us socially, culturally and economically. When reading the Monash University people should also consider the VicHealth report.

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE AGE – 26 January 2008

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE AGE – 3 October 2007

Phong Nguyen, Chairman, ECCV

Harmony, not hatred

SHEIKH Feiz Muhammad's comments are unacceptable and undermine the good work done by many people to promote community harmony in Australia. Racial and religious vilification in any form must be condemned. Victoria's racial and religious tolerance laws exist to limit extremist and hateful preaching. However, it is important that all religious denominations ensure hate preaching does not occur in places of worship. With Victorians practising many religions and representing people from more than 200 countries, it is vital our religious leaders are vocal in promoting harmony, not hatred.

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE AGE – 10 January 2007

Phong Nguyen, Chairman, ECCV

COUNCILLOR Peter Brown's tirade against Sudanese-Australians (Letters, 9/1) adds to the long tradition of established Australians getting stuck into the latest people off the boat.

Twenty-odd years ago, the media and some politicians labelled Vietnamese-Australians as out-of-control drug dealers. Now many Vietnamese are the pride of the Australian community. Recently arrived Sudanese and Horn of African migrants are now under sustained attack from sections of the media, with a few politicians like Mr Brown and Pauline Hanson adding further fuel to the fire.

It seems now almost every time an African-Australian commits a crime there is a media report on it. But this small refugee community needs our support, not our harassment. The great majority of the community are decent, law abiding people trying to build new lives in Australia. As with all communities, some of the younger men in this community are hot-heads. But this requires a police response, not sermons from politicians.

Cr Brown's critique of the adequacy of the security arrangements and venue on the night of the brawl may be appropriate, but his critique of a small and struggling community is way off the mark. His stated preference that Sudanese from outside Dandenong not congregate in the area is downright racist.

Peter Brown represents one of the most culturally diverse communities in Victoria. He should get on with providing decent settlement and community harmony initiatives rather than attacking a small and struggling community.

OPINION PIECE PUBLISHED IN THE AGE – 29 November 2006 

Peter van Vliet, Executive Officer ECCV

Diversity is a fact, not a doctrine

We all remember the Tampa election in 2001. We were told children were thrown overboard and that brave people who were risking their lives fleeing repressive regimes might actually be terrorists hell-bent on destroying Australia. All these claims turned out to be incorrect.

Now, as the 2007 election approaches we have a new race card, this time focusing on the enemy within. The Howard Government recently released a citizenship paper calling for a stricter English and Australian values test for Australian citizenship. The Government has also introduced legislation to extend the waiting period for citizenship from two to four years, which so far has passed without a whimper.

The Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria wrote a submission on the Government's citizenship paper in which we pointed out that such a test would be discriminatory and breach Australia's international human rights obligations. We also said the people most affected by such a test would be African migrants, many of whom come to Australia as refugees without any formal education in their own language let alone in English.

We also said that we disagreed with the claim by the parliamentary secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Robb, that Australia had one overriding culture. Rather, we argued Australia was a multicultural society in which people united around democracy, the rule of law and our shared homeland.

This earned us a stiff rebuke from Robb. According to Robb, in a speech in Canberra on Monday, the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria was in fact promoting separatism. So now the idea of supporting multiculturalism and one's right to enjoy your own culture within an Australian political, legal and cultural framework is separatism. For the record, under no circumstances does the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria support separatism of any kind.

The problem with Robb's analysis is that it rejects our multicultural reality. Or as Joh Bjelke-Petersen used to say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is a duck. Today about 30 per cent of Australians do not have an Anglo-Celtic background. In the first half of the 20th century, 97 per cent of Australians were of Anglo-Celtic origin. The collapse of the White Australia Policy under Harold Holt and Gough Whitlam has irrevocably changed our cultural and ethnic mix. The entrenchment of multicultural policies under Malcolm Fraser has changed the nation's cultural framework irreversibly.Unfortunately for Robb and the Howard Government, the idea of travelling in time back to the 1950s just isn't possible. The reality is that Australia's larger cities and towns are multicultural. The idea of everyone wearing cork hats and signing up to a mainstream Aussie culture is farcical. Our diversity is our real social and economic strength, and it is envied throughout the world.

Prime Minister John Howard has recently lavished praise on the Australian Greek community as an example of a community that has successfully integrated into the Australian community while retaining a love of their country of origin. The irony of the Prime Minister's comments is that the Greek community has relatively low rates of English language proficiency in comparison with others. Many older members of the Greek Australian community would not pass an Australian citizenship test with a stricter English component. All their children would and they would probably pass a Greek test as well.

The problem with trying to define Australian values or culture beyond democracy and the rule of law is that they are not necessarily agreed values. Pluralism, or the right to hold different values beyond the acceptance of democracy and the rule of law, is arguably one of the most important values in a multicultural society and effectively rejects a detailed list of agreed values. Multiculturalism could also be considered a quintessential Australian value, as recently argued by former governor-general Sir William Deane.

The Government's citizenship paper may cause significant discrimination against new migrants, and in particular against refugees from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Germany is a country that has citizenship laws that have prevented a significant proportion of residents from becoming citizens. More than a million Turkish guest workers have missed out on basic citizenship rights. That's one way to create a truly marginalised and disaffected group of people within Australian society.

The Government's citizenship proposals would take Australia a long way back from where we have come over the past 40 years in terms of building a non-discriminatory immigration and citizenship policy.

Australia is a highly successful multicultural society with more than 6 million migrants since World War II. We have demonstrated world's best practice in successfully integrating generations of migrants into our community. The citizenship requirements of two years' permanent residence, basic English and a public pledge to Australia and its laws and democracy have served our nation well.

The Government's proposed citizenship test is discriminatory and our nation would be diminished if it were introduced. The reality is our immigration program has never been more tightly controlled, so why do we need to introduce further layers of discrimination against migrants, and in particularly against refugees who, against all odds, have become permanent Australian residents. We should not throw away the welcome mat and send people to the guesthouse out the back.

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE AGE – Tuesday 5 September 2006 

Phong Nguyen, Chairperson ECCV  

The Federal Government must show greater leadership in dealing with Australia’s multicultural communities. Recent comments by senior Federal Government leaders are doing nothing to promote goodwill and harmony in our community between fellow Australians. Demonising Australian Muslims is only going to further isolate and marginalise decent law abiding Australian Muslims from other Australians. Our leaders must send a message that all types of extremism in our community are unwanted, regardless of the creed or culture of those carrying it out. The great majority of the Australian Muslim community are decent, law-abiding and proud Australians. The Government must stop demonising them.

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD SUN - Saturday 12 August 2006 

Phong Nguyen, Chairperson ECCV  

LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE AGE - Wednesday 9 August 2006 

Phong Nguyen, Chairperson ECCV  

Victoria's multicultural communities applaud Ted Baillieu for supporting the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act. This legislation has helped entrench Victoria’s status as a harmonious, tolerant and multicultural community. It strikes the right balance between freedom of expression and freedom from vilification. This legislation has not curtailed debate around racial and religious issues. It hasn’t stopped free speech as its opponents have claimed. Debate in the Victorian community is as vigorous as ever. The legislation has simply put limits on extremist racial and religious hatred, which any decent society should applaud. With Victorians practising over 100 religious faiths and coming from over 200 countries it is important we all practice harmony and tolerance in our every day lives. Mr Baillieu has shown great leadership in continuing Victoria’s bipartisan tradition of support for racial and religious tolerance.

LETTER PUBLISHED HERALD SUN - Saturday July 1 2006