Australia’s multiculturalism is under threat from migrants who cannot speak English, the new Minister for Citizenship has said.
Speaking to Weekend Today, Alan Tudge said the rate of migrants who cannot speak proficient English had caused ‘ethic clustering’.
He said that this was ‘an early warning’ sign that Australia’s multiculturalism was eroding, 9News reported.
The new Minister for Citizenship Alan Tudge says Australia’s multiculturalism is under threat from migrants who can’t speak English and create ‘ethnic clustering’
The comments come after the Government rewed its push to change the citizenship test, a battle it fought and lost last year
Mr Tudge is leading a new push from the Federal Government for migrants to face tougher language tests and to demonstrate their commitment to Australian values.
‘We’ve been the most successful country in the world in regards to multiculturalism because it’s rooted in integration,’ he said.
‘English language is not being spoken quite as broadly and that’s often in areas of very high concentration of people from the same ethic group and people born overseas.
‘Migrants need to be able to speak some basic English, they need to integrate into the community and adopt Australian values.’
In Parliament this week, Mr Tudge highlighted the area of Greater Dandenong in Melbourne’s south-east, where close to 60 per cent of residents were born overseas and speak limited English.
Labor has criticised the Government’s suggestion, saying the proposed changes were too harsh.
Labor has said the proposed rules are too strict and detractors have argued that if it had happened years ago, many successful Australians wouldn’t be citizens
Language training programs have been cut in the last two years making it harder for new migrants to learn English, but Mr Tudge said the responsibility was on them to improve their language skills
Acknowledging that some language training programs had been cut, Mr Tudge said that new arrivals had to take responsibility and develop their skills.
The English level of migrants has become a polarising issue in the last two years after the Government tried, and failed, to implement stricter provisions for citizenship last year.
Many detractors argue that if Australia had tougher English rules then the parents of a lot of current successful citizens would never have achieved citizenship under the new criteria.