8/10/2020
During the period of Australia’s great shame of the “White Australia Policy” the way we, as a nation, maintained our Anglo, White, Catholic heritage was to institute a test that we applied to people arriving here. A 50 word dictation test in English, determined whether you were going to be allowed into the country. The main purpose of the test was to ensure that those people of Chinese and other Non-British background could be forced away from our shores. It was a deliberate policy position of our government in order to keep our culture “British”.
The present policy that has been put in place by the Morrison Government in the budget earlier this week is a replication of that era. We are now insisting that people coming here as partners of permanent residents of Australia have to have a command of the language. And the framework under which we sell this policy is to say that it is for the protection of people from the perpetration of family violence.
We also then provide for 500 hours of English study through the AMEP courses. Some years ago, we at the ECCWA undertook a survey of participants in the English classes that were on offer. When a person first comes to a foreign country, the priorities for them are usually issues of survival. Studying English is not high on their priority list. Our survey demonstrated that, on average, the time taken by people to clock up their 500 hours was between 5 and 7 years after arrival.
At the present time there is an average waiting period of around 27 months for 90% of the partner visa applications. What this is now going to blow out to with a need for a functional English test is anyone’s guess.
This is not good policy and it ensures that what we have seen in recent times, which is an increase in the Mono lingual nature of our society, will continue. And this is a very sad outcome in a purportedly multicultural nation.
Suresh Rajan
President Ethnic Communities Council WA
20 View Street
North Perth WA 6006
0403 276 960